Fibre of Geelong

CSIRO breakthrough

CSIRO scientists have produced Australia’s first homegrown carbon fibre, paving the way for industry to massproduce materials used in everything from bicycles and tennis racquets to satellites and fighter planes.

“Cracking the carbon code will allow industry to manufacture this incredibly strong and lightweight material for the first time from scratch, using Australia’s own top secret recipe,” CSIRO chief executive Larry Marshall said.

Its scientists have worked with Deakin University to develop the carbon fibre that experts believe will lead to manufacturing jobs growth.

“Together with Deakin University, we’ve created the seed to grow our manufacturing industry — generating jobs of the future built on homegrown innovation,” Dr Marshall said.

“From wind turbines to aerospace, even the latest Mustang wheels, a carbon fibre industry signals the kind of reinvention needed across Australian industry, shifting our focus from raw exports to high-value products to retain our global competitive advantage.

“This is another chapter in the innovation history of Geelong, where Australia’s first carbon fibre was created from scratch using CSIROproduced white fibre. It’s a major leap forward in turning the region into an international carbon fibre hub.”

Carbon fibre combines high rigidity, tensile strength and chemical resistance with low weight.

CSIRO research director John Tsanaktsidis said this was the first step towards creating carbon fibre that was stronger and of a higher quality.

“We want to unlock carbon fibre’s full potential. On our first attempt we created car quality carbon fibre — we now expect to improve on that result and produce aerospace standard carbon fibre,” Dr Tsanaktsidis said.