9 January 2008
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology, has launched a state-of-art micro-manufacturing laboratory in Pretoria, the first platform dedicated to this technology area in South Africa.
The department said in a statement in December that the new micro-manufacturing laboratory would focus on microsystems and microfluidics, while helping to build capacity and develop new skills.
“The CSIR laboratory currently offers three doctoral studentships and one internship for capacity and skills development in this new exciting area.”
Equipment already commissioned at the laboratory includes a Comsol Multiphysics software package to help model and simulate physical systems; a Resonetics Excimer laser machining station to machine microcomponents and microfeatures into components; and a Zeiss laser scanning confocal microscope to measure the physical characteristics of the micro-manufactured parts.
Micro-manufacturing
Micro-manufacturing or micro-fabrication is the collective term for the technologies used to fabricate components on a micrometre-sized scale with feature sizes in the 1-1 000 um range.
As an important emerging technology area, micro-manufacturing has been defined by the World Technology Evaluation Centre as an enabling, disruptive, transforming and strategic technology that bridges the gap between the nano and macro worlds.
“With micro factories, products can be manufactured where needed and the technology is available to more people,” the department said. “The technology can also bring about reduced capital investment, space and energy costs, and increased portability and productivity.”
The launch of the laboratory follows the completion of the micro-manufacturing strategy of South Africa, which was facilitated by the department’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology Strategy (AMTS) implementation unit in consultation with industry and relevant international experts and with key contributions from the CSIR, the Central University of Technology, the Stellenbosch University and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.
‘First of its kind’
CSIR senior researcher Kevin Land says that while pockets of dedicated micro-manufacturing do exist in the country, the laboratory is the first in South Africa to provide a platform dedicated to micro-manufacturing.
“We will initially focus our research on micro fuel cells and microfluidics,” Land says.
The focus of microfluidics will be on developing modelling, manufacturing and testing capabilities for microfluidic devices, while the immediate goal will be research on manufacturing critical components such as valves, pumps, channels, mixers and separators.
These components will then be merged to form sub-systems, which will be linked directly to applications that have been identified in the biomedical field. The group is working closely with biomedical groups in the design and development of these systems.
The microsystems focus is on the development of a micro fuel cell as a technology demonstrator to build skills and capacity in the microsystems domain. The micro fuel cell will be used for portable electronic devices such as cellphones and notebook computers.
SAinfo reporter
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