Introducing Institute for Problems of Materials Science Ukrainian Academy of Science Ukrainian Academy of Sciences

Director - Yu. Solonin

Serving customers worldwide, Institute for Problems of Materials Science (IPMS) is Ukrainian leading center of advanced scientific and engineering services, technical consulting and contract research and development in the field of Material Science and Advanced Technology of metal, ceramic and composite materials.
IPMS was set up in 1955 on the base of the laboratory for special alloys of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences, established in 1952. Since then it has progressively widened its fields of application and customer base. IPMS has no analogues among the academic institutions due to a great variety of new developments in technological processes, materials and products on their base.
Highly experienced specialists, experts of material science, physicists, chemists and technicians, represent the scientific school of IPMS. IPMS employs about 1500 people, including 70 doctors and more than 280 Ph.D., among them Members of Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, professors. IPMS is a large scientific and research complex, including Pilot Plants, Computer Center and Laboratory for Basalt Materials Production.

OUR INTERNATIONAL CONTACTS

During the last decades the IPMS gained recognition as a leader and coordinator in the development and manufacture of powder and ceramic materials. IPMS' scientists are expanding the national activity cooperation with different companies from the U.S.A., United Kingdom, France, Germany, Yugoslavia, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Austria, Switzerland, Mexico, India, Cuba, South Korea, Israel, Japan, China, etc. IPMS sells licenses on the advanced technologies as well as set up Joint Ventures for the production of cutting tools, wear and corrosion resistant coatings using detonation spraying technique, ceramics for electrical application, ceramic powders of high purity. We have set up service centers operating on the base of the detonation coating technology in Japan, China, Yugoslavia, and Iran.

FIELDS OF ACTIVITY

All achievements in the development of new materials with their further commercial application are supported by wide basic researches in the field of solid-state physics and chemistry, inorganic physical chemistry, mechanics of deformable media, computer modeling. On the base of theoretical principles a number of composite materials - structural, electrocontact, tool as well as the technologies of diamond metallization and brazing of non-metal materials have been developed. The new procedures were suggested to obtain quenched amorphous and microcrystal powders for the further manufacture of products finding their application due to high characteristics as structural materials and electrotechnical materials - magnetic solid materials with high magnetic energy and magnetic soft materials with high initial magnetic permeability. Production processes for inorganic synthesis of silinide, sulfide, hydride, phosphate, nitride powders and intercalated phases as well as composite powders of refractory compounds, coated with metals to produce ceramic materials for different applications have been developed.
Theoretical principles for powder rolling, the technology of rolled stock molding, sintering with further compaction of rolled powder semi-products were worked out. It has been given rise to high productive having no analog technology of cyclic rolling of powders. The theory and technology of hot pressing and hot mechanical working of porous materials based on refractory compounds used up to make fine and ultrafine tungsten carbide alloys, hard metals on titanium carbide base, ceramic materials with tribotechnical, electrotechnical and other purposes were developed at IPMS.
On the basis of theoretical concepts of sintering as a reological process, on chemical and physical methods of activation of sintering process, on mechanisms of chemical structural stability, formation of ultradisperse non-equilibrium states of metals and compounds new technologies of sintering and manufacturing of high density ultrafine materials have been developed.
The process of producing of dense wurtzite modification of boron nitride from its graphite state by uniform transformation scheme without catalyst worked up in the Institute recognized all over the world is widely spread and introduced at the commercial scale. Protective powder coatings originated at the Institute are traditional and ensure reliability and durability for different machinery parts operating under aggressive media, abrasive wear, cavitation.
It was rise to unique technologies and installations for detonation spraying special materials were produced and special technologies were developed for electrospark hardening. The effort directed to solve different technical problems has been resulted in creation of wide range of "state and art" materials of new generation.
Should be mentioned, here are corrosion materials ceramic based introduced in cutting edge (Hexanite-R) and abrasive (Hexanite-A) tools tungsten free hard alloys, refractory and thermostable oxide materials used in thermoloaded constructions, polycrystalline materials on the base of silicon carbide and nitride applied as refractory, thermostable electrical-insulation and heat-conducting products, layered semiconductors utilized as large-capacity condensers, current sources, solar energy converters and others, cathode emission materials based on rare-earth metal borides.
A great number of methods of special thin films conductive, semiconductive produced of resistive and dielectric materials have been obtained and employed in microelectronics and sensor engineering. Effective unnoble metal pastes making use of thick film technology for microcircuit manufacturing were developed.
Materials made by powder metallurgy methods are widely introduced in national economy. They involve antifriction materials based on iron, copper and their alloys on the base of polymer for operating in friction units with limited lubrication or without it under increased load, temperatures of sliding speeds. We can also consider here structural material production operating under high load, porous permeable materials manufactured on the base of powders, fibers and nets make use of filters tilters for aggressive media purification, capillary structures, sound-absorbent and fire extinguishing elements.

Main fields of their interests.
The main research areas at the Institute are electronic structure of new advanced materials and anomalies of properties at structure phase transitions, influence of external and internal physical fields; physics of deformation, fracture of solids, high-energy treatment and structure evolution during such processes; heterogeneous equilibrium, chemical thermodynamics and physical and chemical analysis of processes of making of new materials; surface and capillary phenomena in melts and contacting solid phases, thermodynamics and kinetics of interphase interactions; physical and chemical principles of formation of structural and tool ceramic materials, high-strength, refractory and wear-resistant hard alloys, cermets, and pseudoalloys with stable ultrafine structure; physical and mechanical as well as physical and chemical principles of manufacturing of highly stable reinforced and porous materials with ordered structure systems; computer simulation in materials science and computer design of new materials and technologies; compaction, sintering, surface treatment of powder multi-component materials, control of their composition and structure by means of chemical and physical (including high-energy) methods, development of high-strength permanent connections by metallization and soldering; physical and chemical principles of ultrafine powders production and compaction technologies providing to make nanocrystal and microporous metallic composite and ceramic materials, amorphous and microcrystalline alloys as well as nanocomposites.