Collaboration matters team provide scientific advice and help. They
end equipment. Measurements
also assist industrial partners, which generate
need extreme accuracy while
revenue that is entirely reinvested into the
microscopes need to peer at the
laboratory. Doing so allows the DMME team to
atomic level when analysing materials.
maintain its equipment to the highest standards.
To maximise resources items needs to be
‘The laboratory’s star piece is the Scanning
shared and well managed. Over half a dozen
Electron Microscope (SEM)’, says Cassar. The
faculties at the University of Malta (UoM) use
equipment, priced over €830,000, allows
the Department of Metallurgy and Materials
researchers to see the structure of materials
Engineering (DMME)’s equipment according
down to a magnitude smaller than the width
to Dr Ing. Glenn Cassar (Head of DMME).
of a human hair. The microscopic world is
This is one of the reasons the DMME was
beautiful to visualise, but this microscope can
outfitted with over €5.5 million worth of equipment
give detailed information about a material’s
over the last 10 years, with a huge chunk coming
chemical composition and surface structure.
from a €4.4 million ERDF grant in 2009. Material engineering is a highly interdisciplinary
Currently the equipment cannot be used at full capacity. The limited space leads to the
field. Novel materials designed for hip joints, teeth,
machines interfering with each other. In the
automotive parts, tools, and other applications are
coming years the department will move into
all tested in collaboration with medics, scientists,
a new building specifically designed for their
and dentists from other faculties. Cassar and his
requirements as part of the UoM’s Master Plan.
Research & Knowledge
R
esearch needs expensive, high-
Photos by Elisa von Brockdorff
The DMME is one of the University of Malta’s best-equipped departments and collaborates with many others. Lars Lorenz meets Dr Ing. Glenn Cassar to find out more.
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