Home / Resources / Units of Competency / Manufacturing and Engineering / MEM48033
← Back to units in MEM
MEM48033 Current

Application

This unit of competency defines the chemistry skills and knowledge required to support manufacturing and engineering processes including materials selection, monitoring of materials forming and processing, and materials recycling. The unit applies to technicians working in a range of industrial environments.
No licensing, legislative or certification requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.

What You'll Learn

1.

  • 1.1 Classify materials used in a design or manufacturing process into elements, organic and inorganic compounds, and mixtures
  • 1.3 Identify the design and manufacturing materials’ atomic structure including sub-atomic particles, charge, atomic number, mass number, and valency
  • 1.4 Use the periodic table of elements to determine the properties of elements used in the design or manufacturing process from the periodic table of elements

2.

  • 2.1 Categorise design or manufacturing process materials as metals, polymers, composites and ceramics solids from their structure and properties
  • 2.3 Describe any composites in the design or manufacturing process types in terms of component materials and adhesion and setting processes
  • 2.4 Describe basic bonding processes for ceramics and glasses in the design or manufacturing process and relate to structure

3.

  • 3.1 Identify the activity of design and manufacturing process materials’ elements and other key properties in terms of their position on the Periodic Table
  • 3.2 Use first ionisation energy to determine the relative reactivity of metals in a design or manufacturing process

4.

  • 4.1 Identify acids and bases relevant to the manufacturing process including relevant salts which form acidic, basic or neutral solutions
  • 4.2 Identify the pH of relevant acids and bases and classify as either a strong or weak acid or base

5.

  • 5.1 Prepare appropriate balanced chemical equations to describe reactions relevant to the design or manufacturing process using acid-base and electron transfer principles
  • 5.3 Identify the factors affecting reaction rate in the relevant chemical reactions including concentration, surface area, pressure, temperature and catalysis
  • 5.4 Use the stoichiometry of the reactions to determine the amounts of reactants consumed and products made

Assessment Requirements

Performance Evidence

There must be evidence the candidate has demonstrated the ability to:
• write and use chemical formulae in relevant metallurgical and polymer processes on at least two occasions
• write and balance chemical equations
• calculate heat of reaction
• apply boyles and charles laws to determine the relationship between volume, temperature, and pressure for at least two selected gases
• determine the amounts of reactants consumed/products made using the stoichiometry of a reaction on at least two occasions.
• classify composite materials in terms of physical properties and component materials

Knowledge Evidence

There must be evidence the candidate has knowledge of:
• identify the three states of matter and describe each state in terms of shape, volume, and compression
• nomenclature and properties of the main groups of organic compounds
• kinetic theory including:
• boyles law and charles law
• ideal gas equation pv=nrt
• ionic, covalent, and metallic bonding
• the relationship between temperature and the kinetic energy of particles
• latent and sensible heat
• molar volume of a gas
• gay-lussac's law, avogadro's law
• gas reaction calculations
• symbols of common elements including:
• importance of valence in formulae and reactions
• model of an atom including electron shells
• chemical reactions between elements and compounds in terms of atomic structures and periodicity
• chemical basis of energy transformations in chemical reactions
• properties of crystalline solids
• properties of non-crystalline solids and gels including:
• structure including sio4 ceramics and sio2
• short range order
• vitreous/glassy state
• viscosity
• periodic table organisation and use in determining properties of elements
• acids and bases
• definitions
• the relationship between an acid and its conjugate base and a base and its conjugate acid
• polymer types and classification including thermoplastics and thermosets
• stoichiometry.

Assessment Conditions

Skills must have been demonstrated in the workplace or in a simulated environment that reflects workplace conditions and contingencies. The following conditions must be met for this unit:
• Assessors must:
• have vocational competency in applying welding and related codes and standards at least to the level being assessed with relevant industry knowledge and experience
• satisfy the assessor requirements in the Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015 or its replacement and comply with the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011, its replacement or equivalent legislation covering VET regulation in a non-referring State as the case requires.
• Where possible, assessment must occur in operational workplace situations. Where this is not possible or where personal safety or environmental damage are limiting factors, assessment must occur in a sufficiently rigorous simulated environment that reflects realistic operational workplace conditions that cover all aspects of workplace performance, including environment, task skills, task management skills, contingency management skills and job role environment skills.
• There must be suitable access to an operating plant or equipment that allows for appropriate and realistic simulation and documentation including relevant workplace procedures, industry codes and standards.
• Assessment processes and techniques must be appropriate to the language, literacy and numeracy requirements of the work being performed and the needs of the candidate.
Assessors must satisfy the NVR/AQTF mandatory competency requirements for assessors.

Foundation Skills

  • {'skill': 'Foundation Skills', 'description': 'This section describes those language, literacy, numeracy and employment skills that are essential to performance.\nFoundation skills essential to performance are explicit in the performance criteria of this unit of competency.'}

Related Units

Generate Compliant Training Materials for MEM48033

RTOFlow automatically creates learner guides, assessment workbooks, marking guides, and trainer resources aligned to this unit of competency — saving you weeks of manual work.

Request Early Access

Last updated from training.gov.au: 07 April 2026