In 1976 this medal replaced the Mechanical Engineering Prize, which had been established in 1955. The medal perpetuates the memory of Sir George Julius who practised in Sydney as a consulting engineer in the mechanical/electrical field. One of his best-known achievements was the automatic totalisator before the days of electronics. From 1925-1940 he was Chairman of the Standards Association of Australia, and from 1926 – 1945 he was Chairman of CSIRO.
Railway maintenance contributes to the major costs of running a rail network. During maintenance, re-profiling the railhead or removal of the damaged surface can be a temporary solution to increase the life expectancy of the rail, but repair is preferable. Laser cladding was used to repair a heavy-haul Australian rails.
As heat input is involved in the cladding process often residual stresses develop and they can influence the fatigue life and wear. Novel measurements strategy using blind-hole was implemented to measure stresses in thick cladded rails with high resolution for the first time at ANSTO. The experimental work proved that laser cladding can lead to efficient, reliable and cost-effective repairs.
This work was supported by the ARC Linkage Project on the development of functionally-graded materials for wheel-rail contact using laser cladding with partners: Monash University, ANSTO and Hardchrome Engineering. This work formed a significant part of PhD thesis of the Dr Taposh Roy.
The medal is awarded to the author(s) of the publication in the field of mechanical engineering judged to be the best of those submitted for consideration. The publication may be for a paper, group of related papers, book or monograph.
The award is normally made for work carried out in Australia.
You must provide the following with your submission:
The successful recipient(s) will be presented with a Bronze Medal and accompanying Certificate at an appropriate Engineers Australia Mechanical College event in their home state.