The main aim of the Technology Station is to provide companies within these sectors with subsidised services and assistance in product design, prototype development and tooling design, development and manufacture.

The main objective is to ultimately assist these companies to become more competitive via technology transfer. The rate of subsidisation involved depends on the size of the company, turnover, ownership and the particular project.

Within the Technology Station there are three operating units.

Resources

Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory

In the moulded plastics arena, the AML is equipped with CNC machine tools and focuses on:

  • Product design
  • Tooling design
  • Tooling manufacture

General machining can also be undertaken.

Within the Centre are four highly qualified and experienced professors of mechanical engineering, who interact with industry via the Technology Station.

  • CNC turning center
  • 3 axis CNC machining center
  • Universal & turret mills
  • Large lathe
  • Spark eroder
  • Surface grinder
  • Gibbs CNC software
  • Mouldflow software
  • 200T Injection Machine
  • Blow Moulding Machine
  • Coordinate Measuring Machine – NEW
  • PC DMIS software

 

Design Unit

The TS Industrial Design Unit specialises in conceptual design and design verification of metallic and non-metallic fabrications and systems and makes use of some of the most sophisticated design analysis software and techniques (like finite element analysis – FEA) available. The Unit focuses on conceptual design, design analysis, optimisation and verification of non-metallic (and metallic):

  • Aerospace and other advanced structures
  • Custom fabrications
  • Pressure and vacuum vessels
  • Process tanks and vessels
  • Specialised process equipment
  • SolidEdge (CAD)
  • MSCNastran (FEA)
  • Caesar II (pipeline flexibility analysis)
  • FibreSim (laminate analysis)

 

Prototyping and Testing Unit

The PPT Unit specialises in the fabrication of prototypes and tooling for the composites sector. Materials and structural testing can also be undertaken.

  • Closed mould
  • Wet layup
  • Vacuum bagging
  • Oven (1m x 0.5m)
  • Autoclave (1.5 m diameter, 3m length)
  • Cold-storage (for prepreg materials)
  • Computer controlled Lloyds universal testing machine (30 kN capacity)
  • Test grips for ASTM testing of composite materials (in-Plane properties)
  • Real-time strain capture and monitoring capability
  • Acoustic emission unit
  • Digital ultrasound unit
  • Radiographic unit
  • Microscopy capability (including SEM)
  • Ignition loss testing

 

Services Offered

We provide companies within the fibre-reinforced plastics and moulded plastics sector with subsidized services and assistance in product design, prototype development and tooling design.

Subsidized services include:

Contact Information

Design: Ryan Hamilton
Tel: 031 373 2543
Email: ryanh@dut.ac.za
Campus: Steve Biko Campus

Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory: Brett Clarke
Tel: 031 373 2858
Email: brettc@dut.ac.za
Campus: Steve Biko Campus

Prototyping and Testing: Ebrahim Cassim
Tel: 031 373 2995
Email: ebrahimc@dut.ac.za
Campus: Steve Biko Campus