High-temperature processing lab opens at Swinburne

The Robert Simpson High Temperature Processing Laboratory has been opened in Swinburne University’s new Advanced Technologies Centre. The world-class, high-temperature engineering research and teaching facility is funded by a $500,000 donation through the Jolimont Foundation, in memory of one of Australia’s leading furnace engineers.

The facility commemorates Simpson’s lifelong contribution to high-temperature engineering.

“Sustainability is a key interest of Swinburne in both its research and teaching, and the university’s high-temperature processing group is a leader in this technologically challenging area of research,” said Professor John Beynon, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Sciences.

“The work of the group is of great importance to Australia as we attempt to convert our mineral wealth into usable metals in an environmentally responsible and cost-effective manner.”

Beynon said the laboratory would facilitate vital research that would help protect the environment, add value to Australia’s minerals and influence processes around the world.

The new laboratory features state-of-the-art induction and resistance furnaces, a high-temperature laser microscope for observing reactions at high temperatures, special analysis equipment for studying the changes in matter at high temperatures and a solar simulator for studying the potential of using solar energy for smelting metals.

Robert Simpson grew up in Hawthorn during the Great Depression and studied carpentry at Swinburne. He gained an engineering degree while working as a cadet at the BHP Newcastle steel mill where he was first exposed to high-temperature furnaces and engineering. He later started Furnace Engineering, which specialises in the design and manufacture of one-off furnaces.

Simpson’s family has also contributed $100,000 towards the establishment of the Rosemary Simpson Scholarship Fund for rural and regional students.