Over the past decades, humanity has made significant progress in the development of engineering and technology. The inquisitive minds of researchers are overcoming new challenges. In particular, the undisputed achievement of scientists is the creation of structural materials capable of operating under heavy loads at elevated temperatures.
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It's no secret: hundreds of UAVs hover above the ground every day, performing a variety of tasks, including critical military ones. And it is the resistance to aggressive environments, weight minimization and structural stability that allow for increased range, payload and energy efficiency of the vehicle, while lightweight aluminum alloys contribute to the flexibility of wing elements and its individual components.
The Department of Foundry at the Institute of IMZ proposed a modern approach to improving the physical and mechanical properties of aluminum alloys by dispersing their structure elements to a nanoscale size and establishing the relationship between the transformation of the structure and the mechanical properties of these alloys.
According to the head of the department, Prof. Mykhailo Yamshynskyi, the goal of the project, which won the competition of the Ministry of Education and Science and received state funding, is to develop a technology for creating a high-strength aluminum alloy using additional pressure on the melt and establishing the mechanism and features of its structure formation during crystallization. The research will use a modern integrated methodological approach: determining the composition of the matrix of the future alloy and the chemical nature of the phases during its formation; determining the features of alloy crystallization under conditions close to equilibrium; determining a balanced system of complex micro- and macroalloying, optimizing heat treatment modes, etc.
"The alloys will be smelted with precise temperature control at all stages of melting. Melting temperatures and critical points of phase transformations will be determined by thermal analysis, and the temperature of the beginning of phase transformations - by the method of differential thermal analysis,“ said Professor M. Yamshynsky. ”Structural studies of samples and physical and mechanical tests will be carried out using modern certified equipment of the Center for Materials Science of Refractory Compounds and Composites of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. We also plan to apply new methods of X-ray diffraction analysis to determine the structure and phase composition of the alloys, which will be combined with analytical data from optical and electron microscopy. The mechanical properties of the alloys will be determined using the latest micromechanical testing methods. All these approaches are scientifically novel and belong to the project authors."
By the way, the authors and executors of the project are Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor M. Yamshynskyi; Doctor of Technical Sciences, Senior Research Scientist M. Barabash; PhD, Associate Professor E. Byba; PhD, Associate Professor I. Lukianenko; PhD, D., Associate Professor R.V. Liutii; PhD, Senior Researcher M.M. Voron - have extensive experience in studying the structure of aluminum alloys during crystallization. Their work has been recognized by scientists in Ukraine and abroad.
The scientists see the success of the project in close cooperation with various scientific institutions and the involvement of gifted young people. “Such cooperation allows us to share experiences, use best practices, and provides access to additional resources, which contributes to the achievement of the research goals,” the department believes. "The qualifications of the performers, access to advanced equipment, interdisciplinary and innovative approaches will contribute to the creation of new materials and technologies that have significant potential for implementation primarily in the defense sector and other industries of Ukraine.