New travel surfboard set to make waves!
Congratulations to ARC DECRA Fellow and CIES researcher Dr Da (Daniel) Chen who is lead UNSW Chief Investigator of an industry supported research project seeking advanced manufacturing techniques to develop an Australian-made, travel-friendly surfboard.
The Australian Composites Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (ACM CRC) has recently launched a new project with investment company Gowing Bros Ltd. to develop a travel surfboard — boards that requires minimal storage space, but that surpass current surfboard standards and deliver equally, if not better, on performance.
The project aims to identify and develop advanced manufacturing techniques for increased surfboard laminating quality, and will adapt automated processes for core shaping, composite material deposition (glassing), and finishing, retaining the board’s high quality while reducing manufacturing costs.
“These premium travel boards are an exciting potential for national and international markets, offering enhanced durability, performance and sustainability,” John Gowing, independent non-executive director of Gowings, noted. “This means no more lugging around sizable, weighty boards for traveling surfers, including, potentially, our athletes.”
On Tuesday 23 April 2024, Mr Gowing was joined at his Harbour Drive office by Paul Amos, Mayor of Coffs Harbour, Shadow Minister for Tourism, Gurmesh Singh MP, ACM CRC’s Dr Steve Gower (CEO) and Professor Ganga Prusty (Director of Research), and Professor David Currow (Deputy Vice-Chancellor - Research and Sustainable Future, UOW), to undergo a contract signing ceremony that made the project official. (see image)
“This project is a great combination of academic research and industrial applications,” said Dr Daniel Chen, speaking at the project launch as Research Lead. “There are so many interesting elements, from sustainable materials and structure-wave interactions to structural optimisation and automated manufacturing. This project is well aligned with our strategy at UNSW via extending our research to real-world impacts.”
Gowings will lead the project, managing the design scope and drawing on essential market information. In addition, it will oversee compliance and standards testing, ensuring that the surfboard meets regulations and market expectations, even engaging surf athletes for field trials.
Lead research partner UNSW Sydney will also offer input into the technology-informed design, exploring the board’s performance characteristics — flex, damping, rebound and “feel” — so that they may be optimized.
The extensive research capabilities of the University of Wollongong’s (UOW) Surf Flex Lab will also be leveraged, to encompass the entire surfing experience.
Dr Daniel Chen has expertise in innovative composite structural forms and his DECRA project has been on ‘Smart Optimisation of Functionally Graded Porous Structures.’ He is within the world’s top 2% scientists (single-year ranking, Stanford University), based on October 2023 data-update for "Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators".
Dr Da Chen (third from right) at launching of new ACM-CRC project. UNSW Prof Gangadhara Prusty, Director of Research at ACM-CRC is on the far right.
For more information on this project see https://www.acmcrc.com/from-idea-to-ocean-advanced-manufactured-travel-surfboard-set-to-make-waves
