MATERIALS AUSTRALIA
CMatP Profile: Dr Antonella Sola Where do you work? Describe your job. After working for many years at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy, I am now the Science Leader in Active Materials at Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, in Clayton, Victoria. My role is to capture new knowledge and capability in areas that have been identified as strategically important for both CSIRO and Australia. My target is to merge the disruptive technological possibilities of additive manufacturing with the advanced functionality of composite materials, which means to merge freedom in geometry with freedom in properties.
Dr Antonella Sola is originally from Italy, where she graduated in Materials Engineering in 2001. She went on to obtain a doctoral degree in Materials Engineering in 2006, from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. Her PhD thesis on the Fabrication, characterisation and computational simulation of innovative functionally graded materials was recognised by the AIMAT (the Italian Association of Materials Engineering) as the best Italian doctoral thesis in 2008. Antonella worked for several years at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, first as a post-doctoral fellow, then as a researcher in Materials Science and Technology and, ultimately, as an assistant professor in Manufacturing Technology. In January 2020, Antonella moved to Melbourne to start her new career as the Science Leader in Active Materials at Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO. She is currently leading research in additive manufacturing of composite materials, and launching the new Fused Filament Fabrication Facility, Australia’s first dedicated centre for the development of bespoke feedstock filaments for 3D printing by fused filament fabrication. 20 | JUNE 2021
To this aim, with my colleagues at CSIRO, we are creating the new Fused Filament Fabrication Facility, a cutting-edge technology platform for the development of customised composite filaments for fused filament fabrication (FFF), also known as fused deposition modelling (FDM). In one word, I LOVE my job. First of all, we are not just targeting a single project that is expected to finish as its deadline expires: we are bringing to life a resource that will be an integral part of CSIRO capabilities for the future. With this new platform, we are extending our knowledge in 3D printing and in advanced materials, but this is not just science for the sake of science. Fused deposition modelling is very popular, but the range of commercial filaments that is currently available in the market is still very limited. I often talk to scientists, researchers and engineers in both academia and industry, who have brilliant projects – they have an FFF printer to produce their parts – but they do not have the right material to reach the desired performance. This is exactly where we want to make our impact: we want to help these developers to make their ideas come true. We have a cross-disciplinary approach to science and technology. Our team is composed of dynamic young researchers and senior staff with different backgrounds and expertise. Every day, we engage with BACK TO CONTENTS
scholars and technologists working in different fields, from robotics to biomedical science to security. I think that learning from each other, and keeping an open mind is really important to deliver great translational science and technology through our new platform. At the same time, I think this multidisciplinary vision of science is important for our personal and professional growth, because we should never stop learning.
What inspired you to choose a career in materials science and engineering? As a student, I loved Latin and mathematics, because they are both inspired by order and logic. I liked to be challenged by translating a text from Latin, or solving a trigonometric problem. However, my career in materials science and engineering was actually inspired by a fortunate stroke of serendipity. One day, I was maybe eight or ten years old at the time, I was walking down the street when I came across a beautiful aggregate of quartz crystals that someone had abandoned on the footpath. I was fascinated by the beauty of those crystals and started to wonder where their colour, transparency and reflections came from. I think that becoming a materials engineer was the natural way to combine that curiosity towards crystals and, generally speaking, towards materials and their properties, with my natural mindset.
What have been your greatest professional achievements? Obtaining my current position as the Science Leader in Active Materials at CSIRO is my greatest professional achievement so far. CSIRO Science Leaders play a key role in assisting the organisation to generate economic, environmental and social benefits for Australia, and I am really honoured to be delivering on this through my role. No need to say that I am fully aware that being a Science Leader in CSIRO is a privilege, but also a daunting task. With great power comes great responsibility! WWW.MATERIALSAUSTRALIA.COM.AU
