Mechanical & Mechatronic Engineering
Welkom by Universiteit Stellenbosch

Prof Debby Blaine

​​​Associate Professor: Mechanics Division

Prof Deborah Blaine started her position as Senior Lecturer in the Mechanical and Mechatronics Department at the University of Stellenbosch in January 2007. Since January 2007 Debby is a senior lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at Stellenbosch University, focusing on Materials research. She was Deputy Manager of the Materials Research and Development team at a sintered valve seat insert and valve guide manufacturer, Bleistahl Produktions GmbH & Co. KG, Germany for 2006, following a 6-month training period at the company. This position followed a post-doctoral research appointment at The Center for Innovative Sintered Products at The Pennsylvania State University, USA during 2004/5. During this time, she worked on the National Institute for Standards and Technology’s Advanced Technology Program on Powder Metallurgy. She was also an invited lecturer for the Powder Injection Molding Tutorial, an annual shortcourse offered by Innovative Materials Solutions.

Academic Qualifications

  • BEng (Mechanical), Stellenbosch, 1996
  • PhD (Engineering Science and Mechanics), Pennsylvania State University, 2004

 

Professional Experience

2017 - date                                     Stellenbosch University, dept of Mechanical & Mechatronic Engineering

                                                         Associate Professor

Jan 2007 to 2017:

Stellenbosch University, dept of Mechanical & Mechatronic Engineering
Snr Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering (Mechanics Division)

June 2005 – Dec 2006:

Bleistahl Productions GmbH & Co. KG (Germany)
Deputy Manager of Materials Research and Development

Aug 2000 – April 2005:Pennsylvania State University, USA
Center for Innovative Sintered Products

Research Assistant (Post-doc) - June 2004 to April 2005
Graduate Research Assistant - Aug 2000 to May 2004
Jan 1997 – Dec 1999:

Stellenbosch University, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Teaching Assistant

Dec 1993 – Jan 1995:

Powdermet (Pty) Ltd., Atlantis
Engineer-in-training

 

Fields of Research

  • Materials
  • Powder Metallurgy

 

Fields of Interest

  • Materials
  • Powder Metallurgy

 

PUBLICATIONS, PRESENTATIONS AND PATENTS

2016

Journal Articles

BECKER TH, BLAINE DC, TER HAAR GM. Influence of heat treatments on the microstructure and tensile behaviour of selective laser melting-produced TI-6AL-4V parts. South African Journal of Industrial Engineering  2016; 27(3):174-183.

BLAINE DC. Two-phase master sintering curve for 17-4 ph stainless steel. Metallurgical and Materials Transactions. A 2016; 47A(5548):1-9.

Proceedings National

CUPERUS JL, VENTER G, BLAINE DC. Finite element analysis of the tread quenching of railway wheels. 10th South African conference on Computational and Applied Mechanics, North West, South Africa, SA Assoc for Computational and Applied Mechanics (SAAM) 2016: 1-13.


2015

Journal Articles

HINDLEY MP, BLAINE DC, GROENWOLD A, BECKER TH. Failure prediction of full-size reactor components from tensile specimen data on NBG-18 nuclear graphite. Nuclear Engineering and Design 2015; 284:1-9.

DU PLESSIS A, LE ROUX SG, ELS J, BOOYSEN GJ, BLAINE DC. Application of microCT to the non-destructive testing of an additive manufactured titanium component. Case studies in nondestructive testing and evaluation 2015; 4:1-7.


2014

Journal Articles

HINDLEY MP, GROENWOLD AA, BLAINE DC, BECKER TH. Optimisation of the link volume for weakest link failure prediction in NBG-18 nuclear graphite. Nuclear Engineering and Design 2014; 274 : 10-19.   

Proceedings International

BLAINE DC, BOSMAN HL, LAUBSCHER HH. Process Models for Press-and-Sinter Titanium. AMI Light Metals Conference, Pilansberg National Park, Pilansberg, South Africa, Trans Tech Publication 2014: 231-240.               

BOSMAN HL, BLAINE DC. Influence of Powder Particle Size Distribution on the Properties of Press-and-Sintered Titanium and Ti-6AI-4V Preforms. AMI Light Metals Conference, Pilansberg National Park, Pilansberg, South Africa, Trans Tech Publication 2014: 225-230.           

CROMBIE CTC, BLAINE DC. Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis and Debinding Study of Powder Injection Moulded Titanium Alloy. AMI Light Metals Conference, Pilansberg National Park, Pilansberg, South Africa, Trans Tech Publications Ltd 2014: 210-217


2013

Journals

HINDLEY MP, MITCHELL MN, ERASMUS C, MCMURTY R, BECKER TH, BLAINE DC, GROENWOLD AA. A numerical stress based approach for predicting failure in NBG-18 nuclear graphite components with verification problems. Journal of Nuclear Materials 2013; 436 : 175-184.    

KEMP I, DELLIMORE KH, RODRIGUEZ R, SCHEFFER C, BLAINE DC, WEICH HSVH, DOUBELL AF. Experimental validation of the fluid-structure interaction simulation of a bioprosthetic aortic heart valve. Australasian Physical & Engineering Sciences in Medicine 2013; 36(3) : 363-373. 

Proceedings International

BLAINE DC, ILCHEV A, PETRIK L, NDUNGU P, NECHAEV A. Deposition of Platinum Nanoparticles onto Copper Foils by Electrophoresis. The International Conference on Sintering 2011, Jeju, Korea, 2012: 3-16.


• “Observations in the statistical analysis of NBG-18 nuclear graphite strength tests” by Michael P. Hindley, Mark N. Mitchell, Deborah C. Blaine, and Albert A. Groenwold, Journal of Nuclear Materials, Volume 420, Issues 1–3, January 2012, Pages 110-115
• “Investigating the production and properties of porous titanium for biomedical implants” by W.H van Zyl and D.C Blaine, presented at Annual Conference of the Powder Metals Association (PMA) of South Africa, October 2011, Crown Mines, Johannesburg, South Africa
• “Sintering of electrophoretically deposited platinum nanoparticles” by D Blaine, A Ilchev, L Petrik, P Ndungu and A Nechaev, presented at Sintering 2011, September 2011, Jeju Island, Korea
• “Application of fine element analysis to the design of tissue leaftlets for a percutaneous aortic valve” by A.N. Smuts, D.C. Blaine, C. Scheffer, H. Weich, A.F. Doubell, K.H. Dellimore Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, Volume 4, Issue 1, January 2011, Pages 85-98
• “Machinability of PM titanium” by K.K. Sobiyi and D.C. Blaine, presented at Annual Conference of the Powder Metals Association (PMA) of South Africa, October 2010, Crown Mines, Johannesburg, South Africa
• “Initial studies in powder metallurgy processing of titanium” by K.K. Sobiyi and D.C. Blaine, presented at Advanced Metals Initiative (AMI) Light Metals Conference, October 2010, Muldersdrift, Johannesburg, South Africa
• “High Performance Machining of Selected Titanium Alloys for Aerospace Application” by Dimitrov, D; Neugebauer, R; Oosthuizen, G; Schmidt, G; Treurnicht, N; Blaine, D. Chemnitz Manufacturing Colloquium (ICMC), 29-30 September 2010. Chemnitz, Germany
• “Electrophoretic Deposition of PGM nanoalloys” by D Blaine, A Ilchev, L Petrik and P Ndungu, presented at Powdermet 2010, June 2010, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA
• “The Machinability of PM Titanium” by D Blaine and K Sobiyi, presented at Powdermet 2010, June 2010, Fort Lauderdale, USA
• “Titanium Powder Metallurgy” by D. Blaine, presented at IASSA 2009, November 2009, Centurion, South Africa
• InnovUS – T659, Provisional Patent, Registration number ZA2008/09338, Filing date: 31 October 2008, Title: Artificial heart replacement valve, Inventors: C. Scheffer, H. Weich, A.N. Smuts, A. Esterhuyse, K. Van Aswegen, A. Groenwold, D.C. Blaine and K. Van Der Westhuizen
• “Linearization of the Master Sintering Curve” by D. C. Blaine, S. J. Park and R. M. German, presented at 5th International Conference on Sintering 2008, November 2008, San Diego, USA. Published in Journal of American Ceramic Society, Vol. 92, No. 7, July 2009, pp. 1403-1409
• “Application of Work-of-Sintering Concepts in Powder Metals” by D. C. Blaine, S. J. Park, P. Suri, and R. M. German, Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, Vol. 37A, No. 9, September 2006, pp. 2827-2835
• “Master Sintering Curve Concepts as Applied to the Sintering of Molybdenum” by D.C. Blaine, J.D. Gurosik, S-J. Park, D.F. Heaney and R.M. German, Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, Vol. 37A, No. 3, March 2006, pp.715 – 720
• “Critical Use of Video-Imaging to Rationalize Computer Sintering Simulation Models” by D. C. Blaine, R. Bollina, S-J. Park and R. M. German, Computers in Industry - Special Issue: Machine Vision, Vol. 56, Issues 8-9, December 2005, pp. 867-875
• “Analysis of the Processing and Properties of Bulk Nanoscale Refractory Metals” by R. M. German, D.C. Blaine and E. Olevsky, proceedings of the 16th International Plansee Seminar, Reutte, Austria, Vol. 1, 2005
• “Master Sintering Curve for a two-phase material”, by D. C. Blaine, S. Park, R. M. German, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Science, Technology and Applications of Sintering, Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, Grenoble, France, 2005, pp. 264 - 267
• “Modeling of fine molybdenum powder for press-and-sinter processing,” by D. C. Blaine, P. Garg, R. M. German, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Science, Technology and Applications of Sintering, Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, Grenoble, France, 2005, pp. 268 - 271
• “In situ characterization of apparent viscosity for continuum modelling of supersolidus liquid phase sintering”, by D. Blaine, R. Bollina, and R. M. German, poster, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Science, Technology and Applications of Sintering, Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, Grenoble, France, 2005, pp. 307-310
• "A Model for the Consolidation of Ultrafine Metal Powders," by R. M. German, D. Blaine, and E. Olevsky, Proceedings of the 2005 International Conference on Powder Metallurgy and Particulate Materials, Metal Powder Industries Federation, Princeton, NJ, 2005, pp. 1.100-1.109
• "Computer Modeling of Distortion and Densification during Liquid Phase Sintering of High-Performance Materials," by D. C. Blaine, R. M. German, and S. J. Park, Proceedings of the 2005 International Conference on Powder Metallurgy and Particulate Materials, Metal Powder Industries Federation, Princeton, NJ, 2005, pp. 1.29-1.37.
• “Verifying the Master Sintering Curve on an Industrial Furnace,” by D. C. Blaine, S. J. Park, R. M. German, J. LaSalle, and H. Nandi, Proceedings of the 2005 International Conference on Powder Metallurgy and Particulate Materials, Metal Powder Industries Federation, Princeton, NJ, 2005, pp. 1.13-1.19.
• “Debinding by Wicking Large PIM Parts,” by D. C. Blaine, R. M. German, J. LeSalle, S. Das, and B. Sherman, PIM2005, International Conference on the Powder Injection Molding of Metals, Ceramics, and Carbides, San Diego, March 2005
• “Distortion and Densification Control during Liquid Phase Sintering of High-Performance Materials” by R. M. German, S-H. Chung and D. Blaine, NUMIFORM 2004, proceedings of 8th International Conference on Numerical Methods in Industrial Forming Processes, Columbus, OH, 13-17 June 2004
• “Production Cost Sensitivity Analysis for Metal Powder Injection Molding” by R.M. German and D. Blaine, Proceedings of the 2004 International Conference on Powder Metallurgy and Particulate Materials, Metal Powder Industries Federation, Princeton, NJ, 2004
• “Finite Element Simulation of Sintering Shrinkage and Distortion in Large PIM Parts” by D. Blaine, S.H. Chung, S.J. Park. P. Suri and R.M. German, PM Science and Technology Briefs, Vol.6., No.2., August 2004, pp. 13-18
• “PIM Simulation and Modeling” invited presentation at Powder Injection Molding Introduction and Short Course, Orlando, FL, March 2004
• “Master Sintering Curve Construction Software and its Application” by S.J. Park, S.H. Chung, D. Blaine, P. Suri, and R.M. German, PIM2004, International Conference on the Powder Injection Molding of Metals, Ceramics, and Carbides, Orlando, FL, March 2004
• “Large Metallic Parts by PIM” by D.Blaine, R.M. German, P. Suri, S. Das and J. LaSalle, PIM2004, International Conference on the Powder Injection Molding of Metals, Ceramics, and Carbides, Orlando, FL, March 2004
• “Sintering Shrinkage and Microstructural Evolution of a Martensitic Stainless Steel” by D. Blaine, Y. Wu, C. Schlaefer, B. Marx, and R.M. German, Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Science, Technology and Applications of Sintering: SINTERING 2003, State College, PA, September 2003
• “New Developments in Continuum Modeling of Sintering” by D. Blaine and R.M. German, Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Science, Technology and Applications of Sintering: SINTERING 2003, State College, PA, September 2003
• “Evolution of PIM Sintering Models for Finite Element Size and Shape Prediction” by D.C. Blaine and R.M. German, PIM2003, International Conference on the Powder Injection Molding of Metals, Ceramics, and Carbides,State College, PA, March 2003
• “Simulation and Modeling for PIM” invited presenter at PIM Tutorial, State College, PA, October 2002
• “Sinter Simulation of PIM parts” presented at CISP Industry Member Meeting, State College, PA, October 2002
• Axel Madsen/CPMT Scholarship Report – Debby Blaine, International Journal Powder Metallurgy, Vol. 38, No. 6, September 2002, pp. 38-39
• “Effects of residual carbon content on sintering shrinkage, microstructure and mechanical properties of injection molded 17-4 PH stainless steel” by Y.Wu, R.M. German, D. Blaine, B. Marx and C. Schlaefer, Journal of Materials Science, Vol.37, 2002, pp. 3573-3583
• “Sintering Densification and Microstructural Evolution of Injection Molding Grade 17-4 PH Stainless Steel Powder” by Y. Wu, D. Blaine, B. Marx, C. Schlaefer, and R.M. German, Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, Vol. 33A, July 2002, pp.2185-2194
• “Sintering Simulation of PIM Stainless Steel” by D. Blaine and R.M. German, Proceedings of the 2002 International Conference on Powder Metallurgy and Particulate Materials, Metal Powder Industries Federation, Princeton, NJ, 2002
• “Sintering Simulation of PIM Stainless Steel” by D. Blaine and R.M. German, PIM 2002, International Conference on the Powder Injection Molding of Metals, Ceramics, and Carbides, San Diego, CA, March 2002
• “Analysis of the Driving Potential of a Solar Chimney Power Plant” by D.G. Kröger and D. Blaine, R&D Journal (a publication of the South African Institution of Mechanical Engineers), vol. 15, No. 3, 1999, pp. 85-94 (see AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS)