Funding hopes from award victory

Funding hopes from award victory

A national titanium technology grouping, based at the University of Waikato, has won a major award at the second annual KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards.

Titanium Technologies New Zealand (TiTeNZ) - a collaboration between the University of Waikato, Tauranga's Titanium Industry Development Association (TiDA), Callaghan Innovation, GNS Science, the University of Auckland, and a number of industry partners – won the AJ Park Commercialisation Collaboration Award at a ceremony in Auckland in June.

TiTeNZ is a world leader in the development of titanium powder metallurgy and the Awards are the pinnacle of KiwiNet activities, designed to build awareness and inspire research commercialisation success.

Professor Brian Gabbitas from the Faculty of Science and Engineering hopes the award will lead to further funding for research into titanium and the development of more commercially-viable products. At the University of Waikato, titanium research is largely centred on the production of products from titanium or titanium powder through either extrusion or forging.

“We are working closely with South Auckland Forging Engineering and are manufacturing diving knives and components for deep sea diving apparatus,” he says.

The benefits of titanium are its strength and light weight and Professor Gabbitas says forging or extruding products cuts waste significantly compared to milling products from a solid piece of The use of titanium powder also cuts production costs significantly, he says.

Each partner involved in TiTeNZ is involved in different aspects of research, with further support from AUT also proving beneficial Professor Gabbitas says.

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