Materials science and manufacturing

Focus on textiles and fibres research

CSIR contributes to a potentially new agave industry The birth of an agave industry in South Africa that could transform rural economy and job creation for subsistence farmers and entrepreneurs, in especially the arid Great Karoo and Lesotho, inches closer after an agreement between the CSIR and Brazil.

Spotlight on fibre-reinforced composites conference The CSIR and the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Strategy (AMTS) of the Department of Science and Technology jointly hosted a conference on fibre-reinforced composites in Port Elizabeth recently. The conference aimed to provide an international forum for various classes of composite materials and structures.

British show interest in CSIR nano centre Member of the British House of Parliament, Claire Curtis-Thomas, visited the National Centre for Nano-structured Materials (NCNSM) at the CSIR on request of the British High Commission in South Africa.

Conference on fluidisation highlights efficiency and flexibility The triennial Industrial Fluidisation South Africa (IFSA 2008) conference will be held on 19 and 20 November 2008 in Gauteng, at the Cradle of Humankind. The core focus of the conference is the industrial application of fluidised-bed technology in fields such as treatment of minerals, energy generation/conversion and petrochemicals.

CSIR shines at biomaterials symposium Eleven papers were delivered on CSIR research activities in the field of biomaterials at the 2nd annual biomaterials symposium held by the Biomaterials Association of South Africa (BioMatASA).

CSIR shares benefit of SA-Hungary agreement Professors Viktória Vargha and Krisztina László from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME), Department of Physical Chemistry and Material Science, Hungary, recently shared their research on polymer science at a seminar that was hosted by CSIR Materials Science and Manufacturing.

CSIR nano facility marks new era Barely out of its baby shoes and only recently officially launched by the Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Mosibudi Mangena, at the CSIR; the National Centre for Nano-structured Materials affirms the establishment of this exciting research field at the CSIR.