Associate Professor, Faculty of Science Engineering and Built Environment/Institute for Frontier Materials
Matthias Weiss is leading the research team for sheet metal forming and advanced manufacturing in the Institute for Frontier materials (IFM). In 2016 Matthias co-founded Australian start-up FormFlow based on the development of a world`s first technology for bending corrugated sheet and, as the R&D director of FormFlow, has directed activities towards technology scale up and commercialisation which resulted in BlueScope Steel signing an exclusive licence agreement with FormFlow. Since 2019 Matthias has worked heavily with Deakin Architecture and Civil Engineering groups on the development of new building technologies and manufacturing processes to address Australia`s need for affordable and resilient housing. This has led to several multimillion-dollar research grant successes in 2023 and 2024 that are in collaboration with leading Victorian industry and aimed at developing premanufactured and modular building solutions and the establishment of a living community laboratory in the Colac Shire of Victoria.
More recently A/Prof Matthias Weiss has directed his research towards green hydrogen with major focus on developing new micro-forming technologies for the rapid prototyping and high-volume production of fuel cell and electrolyser metal components. Matthias works closely with the research teams at Deakin Hycel and at TU Chemnitz, Germany on the assembly and implementation of prototyped cell stacks into Hycel`s fuel cell test facility and on the development of new, renewable energy solutions for the Australian housing, transport, and defence sector.