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TPU scientists develop coating with unique properties for radiation protection

Posted on by Tomsk Polytechnic University

Scientists of Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) are developing a unique nano-coating for radiation protection, capable of self-healing. It will help protect electronics and seriously increase the radiation resistance of various materials in the nuclear and space industries, the authors said. The research findings are published in the Metals academic journal.

New radiation-resistant materials, as experts explained, will not only improve many nuclear facilities but also will effectively protect electronics from radiation damage. Such protection is especially relevant for astronautics as cosmic radiation can disable electronics outside the Earth’s atmosphere very fast.

The main danger of radiation is exposure to charged particles and neutrons. The TPU scientists have experimentally confirmed that the multilayer composite nano-coating of zirconium and niobium can heal the defects caused by these factors.

“Radiation defects in materials are caused by vacancy defects, which are atoms knocked out of the crystal lattice, or additional atoms which stuck in it. Both types of damage can accumulate resulting in product failure. After long-term irradiation of our coating with a proton flux, the concentration of defects either remains unchanged or decreases due to the drain of defects to the boundaries of the layers, where they eliminate each other,” Roman Laptev, Associate Professor of the Division for Experimental Physics of the TPU School of Nuclear Science and Engineering, explained to the Sputnik international news agency.

Such properties of the coating offer significant opportunities for increasing the radiation resistance of various materials in the nuclear and space industries, the TPU researchers believe. The composite, obtained by magnetron sputtering, consists of five layers of each material with a thickness of about 100 nm.

“Transmission microscopy and X-ray structural analysis have shown that after irradiation, voltage arises in the structure due to the accumulation of protons. Calculations and experiments both revealed a displacement of zirconium atoms from the optimal position with the formation of areas of low electron density, near which inserted ions accumulate annihilating positrons during analysis,” Roman Laptev said.

For experimental analysis of the structure of defects before and after irradiation, a unique high sensitive method was used – spectroscopy of Doppler broadening of the annihilation line using fluxes of positrons with controlled energy, the TPU scientists noted.

The research was carried out within the No. 20-79-10343 project of the Russian Science Foundation in cooperation with experts from the Weinberg Research Center and the Dzhelepov Laboratory of Nuclear Problems of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. In the future, the research team intends to study new material at higher radiation doses

New COVID-19 transmission monitoring model developed in Russia

Posted on by OLGA ROMANOVSKAYA

Scientists at South Ural State University (SUSU) have conducted a CFD study for monitoring the spread of respiratory viruses in closed spaces.

According to the researchers, the new development will prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other viral infections in spaces where people study or work, like educational institutions and offices. The results were published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.

Respiratory viral infections are transmitted from person to person primarily through airborne droplets as a result of direct or indirect contact. Distances between people in closed spaces do not always offer protection against viruses due to air circulation. That is why the proper positioning of barriers is one of the most effective ways to reduce the spread of respiratory viruses in enclosed areas.

SUSU scientists have conducted a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study that allows to analyse droplet flows in the air and to determine the effective location of barriers protecting people in a room.

“The approach of CFD is a combination of computer codes and programs that allows the simulation of different physical and chemical processes. It is used in almost all areas of research, while CFD itself is applied in a wide range of scientific fields – from supersonic aviation to bio-energy and others. The study simulates the real situation in classrooms as accurately as possible”, senior researcher at the Department of Hydraulics and Hydro-Pneumatic Systems at the Polytechnic Institute of the SUSU Afrasyab Khan commented.

According to him, thanks to CFD, enterprises will be able to maintain a normal pace of work and avoid quarantine during adverse epidemiological situations.

“This study is a starting point for detailed examination of various scenarios by using theoretical and experimental approaches. Cooperation is planned at both national and international levels”, the senior researcher noted.

In the future, the scientists plan to develop a strategy based on such CFD studies through which, in different scenarios like offices, railway stations, airports, harbours, and factories, SOP’s will be established to work without shutting the operations down.

TPU improves ranks in QS World University Rankings

Posted on by Tomsk Polytechnic University

Tomsk Polytechnic University has ranked 395th in the QS World University Rankings 2022 and entered 31% of the best world universities.

TPU improved its ranks in several key metrics in the 2022 rankings. According to the Faculty Student Ratio, TPU entered the top-100 world universities (ranked 93d) rising by 28 ranks. This TPU ratio (16,9 professors per 100 students) surpasses the worldwide average number (8) by over two folds.

Moreover, the university improved two more key metrics: Citations per Faculty and International Students Ratio (30 out of 100 at TPU, meanwhile, the worldwide average number is 9.3). TPU eventually changed its ranks from 401st to 395th in the overall rankings.

The QS World University Rankings 2022 includes 1,300 universities (1,002 in the previous rankings) from 93 countries. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Oxford and Stanford University ranked the first, second and third relatively. Russia is represented by 48 universities, 16 out of them first entered the rankings.

During 11 years, TPU has risen in the QS institutional rankings by 156 ranks and extended its presence in the QS World University Rankings by Subject: from one in 2016 to 10 in 2021. This year, TPU ranked 23d in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021: Engineering – Petroleum, shown the best result among Russian universities.

The rankings methodology is based on the assessment of university performance in six metrics: Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Citations per Faculty, Faculty/Student Ratio, International Faculty Ratio and International Student Ratio.

TPU organized the Future of Smart Cities Conference

Posted on by Tomsk Polytechnic University

Tomsk Polytechnic University held the International Scientific Conference “Future of Human Smart Cities in Europe and Central Asia: Challenges and Opportunities” from 8 June 2021.

“I am greeting you within the walls of Tomsk Polytechnic University, the first technical university of the Urals. For 125 years, we have been training over 170,000 engineers. Most of them are engineers, the task of whom is to change the world around them, start new enterprises, make breakthrough decisions, as well as to change the image of the urban environment,” Alexander Fadeev, TPU Vice-Rector for Digital Affairs, addressed the participants of the Conference.

“The unique character of TPU lies in engineering and technical sciences, humanities and social sciences, which are closely intertwined.”

“The most interesting is that our university manages to intertwine deep fundamental science and engineering. Who is a man of science? A man of science is that who studies laws of nature.

“Who is an engineer then? An engineer is that who creates something new that has never existed in the world before. I want to wish everyone to find something personal, something unique at the Conference that will help you to create your service. Above all, working in digital space, don’t forget about a human,” he added.

Among the topics discussed by the experts at the Conference were “Information Technologies Serving Stakeholders and Citizens of Smart City: Urban Digital Platforms, GIS Maps, Electronic Services and Government”, “Impact of Breakthrough Technologies on Society, Assessment of Equipment and Technology, Social Aspects of Robotics”, “Reinterpretation of Smart Human-Centered Transformation of City: Global, National, Local Contexts”.

“Such a topic as smart cities and considerations of the future of smart cities were simply impossible 10 years ago. The fact is that digital technologies became a part of our world. Many people are afraid of it, however, this process is cocksure. Look how everything around us is changing, including everything that refers to the urban environment. For instance, how people call a taxi, buy products today, they do it using digital technologies,” Alexander said.

“Digital technologies are unique due to collecting large volumes of data that allows taking fantastic solutions. For example, digital technologies forecast and suggest to us those goods, which you have not seen before. Today, the forecasting system is increasing sales by three folds on many websites. Think how we can dip into the future, which solutions we can offer, spread your wings when you design the future of our cities,” Alexander added.

The Conference was held in a hybrid mode and gathered together students, young and recognized scientists, urban planners, engineers, architects, Tomsk citizens, representatives of IT companies, cafes, museums, creative spaces and children’s technopark “Kvantorium”, sociologists from Tomsk, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Perm, Tambov, Novosibirsk, Barnaul, Italy, Guatemala, Portugal, Switzerland and Central Asian countries.

“The main point in the section work is focused on that the technologies must be aimed at people, a smart city must serve people. There must not be technologies for technologies, but technologies must be an instrument helping to increase the quality of citizens’ life,” Natalya Goncharova, Associate Professor of the Division for Social Sciences and Humanities of the TPU School of Core Engineering Education, a coordinator of the project, emphasized.

The participants discussed problems and perspectives of modern approaches on research the process of formation of public spaces of urban streets, use of instruments of video content analysis, use of robots in education and a smart city, the impact of digital technologies on elderly people and many others.

A unique surgery by surgical oncologists and endoscopists at the Pirogov Clinic of SPbU

Posted on by Alina Perevizintsova

For the first time, surgical oncologists and endoscopists at the Pirogov Clinic of High Medical Technologies at St Petersburg University (SPbU) have performed surgery to remove a malignant tumour of the oesophagus and conduct a biopsy of the lymph node.

This approach enabled doctors to perform radical surgery of the tumour endoscopically, without needing to perform surgical intervention. The procedure was similar to the well-known and common fibrogastroduodenoscopy (FGDS) and was performed under general anaesthesia.

“The doctors also had to perform additional diagnostics in order to find whether cancer cells break away from where they first formed and to prevent future relapses. For that reason, we performed a sentinel lymph node biopsy,” said Rostislav Pavlov, an oncologist and Deputy Director for Medicine (Oncology) at the St Petersburg University’s Pirogov Clinic.

The doctors at the St Petersburg University’s Pirogov Clinic examined the sentinel lymph node. The sentinel lymph node is the organ that can evidence first that cancer cells from the tumour have begun to travel through the body. Medical technologies we have today enable us to find easily this lymph node.

During the endoscopic stage of the surgery, the doctors injected a fluorescent substance into the tumour. Through the lymphatic vessels, it entered the nearest lymph nodes creating a green glow. This highlighted signalling node had to be removed and checked for cancer cells.

Laparoscopy was used to take biopsy samples. It is a minimally invasive approach to modern surgery on internal organs through small openings, avoiding large incisions and noticeable sutures. This results in reducing to a minimum what has to be done during the surgery and lessens patient’s pain in the postoperative period. Additionally, this can reduce the recovery phase that usually takes long after abdominal surgery.

“The surgery was successful. We removed the tumour and performed a full diagnostics minimising the risk of recurrence. We discharged the patient on the third day after the intervention,” said Rostislav Pavlov.

Scientists propose innovative method to test the effectiveness of coronavirus medicines

Posted on by OLGA ROMANOVSKAYA

South Ural State University (SUSU) scientists have proposed an innovative method for testing the effectiveness of medicines for coronavirus. According to the researchers, it is necessary to focus on the maximum coincidence of the ligand and the receptor. The results of the work have been published in the highly-rated journal “Molecules”(Q1).

Despite the successful treatment regimens developed for coronavirus infection, the search for a cure for the disease continues. Now no drug could block the spread of the virus in the body. Scientists from all over the world are working on solving the problem.

Employees of the Research Laboratory for Computer Modeling of Medicines at South Ural State University are looking for effective substances against coronavirus. They may be contained in drugs at present used in the treatment of other diseases. The project is supported by a BRICS grant, and scientists from India, South Africa, and Brazil are equally participating in it.

The most recent study by the international team examined the complementarity of RNA polymerase in SARS-CoV-2(coronavirus) complexes with ligands.RNA polymerase is an enzyme that reproduces the genetic material of a virus. This is how the virus spreads throughout the body.

It is assumed that drugs for coronavirus block RNA polymerase. Scientists have found that ligands(chemical compounds that possess pharmacological effects) must match the enzyme as much as possible in order for their action to be effective.

“The structures should be as close to each other as possible, in our case- to exclude the interaction of the virus RNA polymerase with human DNA.Our colleagues conducting research on the same topic focus on the energy of interaction.However, the relation of th eelectronic structure of the ligand to the electronic structure of RNA-dependent RNA-polymerasei s more important,” says Vladimir Potemkin, Ph.D., Head, Laboratory for Computer Modeling of Medicines, South Ural State University

This is the active form of the drug Fivapiravir used to combat viral infections. The following step was to analyze the intersection of the electron clouds of the ligand and the receptor. The programs implemented for computer analysis were created at SUSU.

Scientists used the Protein Data Bank, a database of three-dimensional structures o proteins and polymeric acids, to obtain the structure of RNA polymerase. The researchers then calculated the electron density of the enzymes and the ligand favipiravir-RTP.

Rendering to the results of the study, the maximum complementarity was recorded when the ligand coincided with the RNA. The findings can be used to predict the biological activity and examine the mechanism of drug action. Also, in the publication, scientists presented an equation that can be used to test the effectiveness of the effects of other ligands on receptors.

Note that the team’s work to discover effective remedies for coronavirus is not finished. In India, effective substances are being synthesized, in vitro tests will be carried out there, and their Brazilian colleagues will perform them in vivo. The mutability of the virus will be assessed by South African scientists. Once the potency of a potential drug has been proven, production can begin.

Togliatti State University finds way to receive magnesium foam

Posted on by Olga Kolpashnikova

The scientists at Togliatti State University (TSU) have developed a unique method to receive magnesium and magnesium alloy based foam materials. The Federal Service for Intellectual Property has issued a patent on the invention.

A lightweight and high strength together with excellent damping properties are the main advantages of metal foams still preserving all values and worthiness of the starting materials. The TSU scientists hold 14 patents on invention relating to porosity based composite materials.

The experimental works carried out by them earlier made it possible to obtain porous aluminum, copper, nickel and even steel. Their latest development is a method for producing porous materials from magnesium and its alloys. This metal has the lowest density and high damping properties compared to other structural metals, and this makes it very attractive for industry.

“Magnesium is difficult to work with metallurgically, it has a low ignition temperature, but it is a very promising material. Our method allows obtaining a light porous metal, the density of which is lower than the density of water. This foam material has high specific strength, it better dampens the impact energy during a collision, mechanical vibrations, for example, vibration” – explains Alexander Kovtunov, professor of the Department of Welding, Pressure Processing of Materials and Related Processes at the Institute of Mechanical Engineering (INMASH), TSU.

The essence of the method is that the heated magnesium alloy is poured into a mould with granules of sodium chloride. After solidification, the casting is leached by placing it in a 5-35% aqueous solution of acetic acid. The granules dissolve, and the magnesium casting forms a porous structure.

“The presence of acetic acid allows to get a clean surface of the finished material without traces of interaction with sodium chloride from the granules, it also reduces the rate of magnesium corrosion in the resulting salt solution and ensures the dissolution of corrosion products in the solvent” – Alexander Kovtunov says.

The advantage of the technology is its simplicity, the ability to obtain both simple and complex shapes of castings, low cost, as well as sufficiently high productivity. The method proposed by the TSU scientists makes it possible to obtain porous magnesium with a controlled pore size and both homogeneous and heterogeneous porosity. In October 2020, the authors of the invention filed an application with the Federal Service for Intellectual Property and in June 2021 received a patent for the development.

Magnesium foam materials can be used in the aerospace and automotive industries, where it is of great importance to reduce the weight of the structure while maintaining its strength. As Alexander Kovtunov noted, manufacturers of aviation components have already expressed interest in the new technology.

*Damping — raising a disipation of an energy in order to increasingly reduce oscillation within a system.

TPU opens laboratory for Industrial Control Systems

Posted on by Tomsk Polytechnic University

A new Laboratory for Industrial Control Systems has been equipped at Tomsk Polytechnic University. Students studying heat power engineering will learn to design thermodynamic processes, master the technology of high-speed thermotechnical measures and engineer control system elements and modules.

Within the Leading Research Universities project, the Laboratory was equipped by the interdisciplinary team of the TPU School of Energy and Power Engineering, the Research School of High-Energy Physics with the support of EleSy Company and the Technical University of Darmstadt.

“First of all, the Laboratory is aimed for graduate heat power engineers. Moreover, it allows implementing two trajectories of specialist training: engineering and research, including in English too. Leading scientists from world research centers and specialists of enterprises of the tech-intensive sector of the economy were invited for this purpose. It will allow TPU to train internationally demanded staff in process automation systems and promising eco-friendly energy technology,” Pavel Strizhak, Professor of the TPU Butakov Research Center, a supervisor of the project, explains.

Furthermore, four virtual complexes were developed for students’ work in the laboratory. These virtual complexes allow honing skills of 3D assembly of a control panel and optical methods for diagnosis of steam gas flows, SCADA control levels, designing the structure of process automation systems, as well as will allow simulating automated design engineering of standard electrical connections in a control panel.

The experts of EleSy Company and TPU jointly designed the virtual laboratory and practical works with remote access. Besides, the industrial partner equipped the classroom with three control panels embedded with up-to-date domestic and foreign equipment, including programmable logic controllers, analog and discrete signal converters, routers, as well as licenses for the SCADA-Infinity software.

“Interaction of TPU with the Technical University of Darmstadt will allow integrating the best practices in fluid dynamics for the development of students’ skills in designing and developing industrial control systems. Several applications for the joint realization of international research projects of TPU scientists and colleagues from Germany are currently being considered.

“On one hand, it will allow increasing the number of joint research and on the other hand, it will also allow students to be involved in conducting research projects in Russia and abroad with full immersion in English speaking environment,” Pavel Strizhak assures.

 

Nanoparticles under plasma electrolytic oxidation of aluminum alloy boost its resistance to corrosion and wear

Posted on by Olga Kolpashnikova

Scientists from Russia and Israel have reached a macro effect using minor amounts of nanoparticles to obtain multifunctional coatings for protection against corrosion and wear of
aluminum alloys.

A group of scientists from Togliatti State University (TSU) led by Professor Mikhail Krishtal, Doctor of Physics and Mathematics, in association with Senior Researcher of Israel Institute of Technology (Technion), theoretical physicist Alexander Katsman, improved PEO technology by adding solid titanium carbide nanoparticles (TiC NPs) (with an average particles size about 80 nm) to the electrolyte.

Adding only half a gram of TiC NPs per litre of electrolyte raised the corrosion resistance of the oxide layer formed by PEO on cast aluminum-silicon alloy AK7, which is widely used in industry, by ~10 times, the hardness increased by 1.4 times, and the wear resistance by ~3 times. While TiC NPs incorporated in the formed oxide layer made up less than 1 wt. % of the layer, its thickness and mass increased by about 30%, thus raised the efficiency of the oxidation process significantly.

Despite the apparent simplicity of the PEO method, no one has managed so far to expound
without contradiction and mathematically describe the PEO phenomenon. In this
regard,  the influence of nanoparticles added into the electrolyte on the PEO process has not been fully explained either.

Many issues remain unresolved, and variations in the oxidation modes lead to new non-obvious effects raising new questions.

“During PEO, the oxide layer formation occurs mainly due to the melting and intensive oxidation of the liquid metal. Micro-arc discharges occur in microscopic channels which penetrated the oxide layer, and melt the base metal,” explains Professor Krishtal.

This is preceded by vapor-gas bubbles formation in the microchannels. We suppose that solid nanoparticles, carrying a negative electric charge, are captured by these bubbles, getting accelerated by an electric field to such speeds that they colliding incorporate into the walls and bottoms of the microchannels like bullets or meteorites. They lose electrons and acquire a positive charge due to friction and heating upon collision. All this leads to sparking on the nanoparticles incorporated in the oxide layer, causing a decrease in the micro-arc initiation voltage.

Therefore, microscopic electric arcs burn longer, and there occur more such micro- discharges. This explains the increase in the intensity of metal oxidation upon the addition of nanoparticles to the electrolyte, while the process itself becomes more stable. Accordingly, more equilibrium and hard components are formed, the layer becomes more homogeneous, dense, and hard, whereas its protective properties such as wear and corrosion resistance increase.

These effects become achievable only at the nano-size range of particles and in a relatively narrow range of their concentrations. Larger microparticles cannot accelerate to the
speeds sufficient to embed into the microchannel walls, or they possibly are not even able to fit in the microchannels. That is to say, that the macro effect is obtained precisely due to the particle nano size.

“This is the case when “nano” is a real determining factor in improving the process and
properties of the formed oxide layer. It is the nanoscale size of titanium carbide particles that allow it to be optimally incorporated in the layer and achieve the best effect,” explains Anton Polunin, PhD, Head of the Laboratory of Materials Science and Technologies of Nanostructured Layers and Coatings in the Research Institute of Advanced Technologies of
TSU.

“As a result, we get an oxide layer with a new set of properties that meets more stringent requirements in mechanics and corrosion than the base oxide layer, which means that it can work in even more severe conditions. Our next step will be to adapt the obtained solutions for the processing of technical magnesium alloys.”

The intriguing effect of a very small mass amount of nanoparticles on the macro effect of a significant increase in the thickness and quality of the PEO coating can be understood by considering electric discharges striking from negatively charged clouds at flying aircraft,
positively charged due to friction against the atmosphere. These mini-lightning occurrences ionize the atmosphere (just like cosmic particles accelerated in the electric field of the Earth), thus creating the conditions to form a bolt of large lightning.

Similarly, nanoparticles incorporated in the walls of the coating microchannels cause micro-discharges (sparks) from the cathode, which ionize the vapor-gas bubble and thus prepare (facilitate) the micro-arc breakdown of the entire vapor-gas bubble, – explains Alexander Katsman, Senior Researcher of the Laboratory on Bioinspired Materials in the Technion (Israel). – This explains the relatively small (3-4%) observed decrease in the electrical breakdown voltage, however, resulting in at the same time, in a significant macro effect.

The research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation. This journal is one of the world’s leading scientific and technical research journals in the field of surface treatment and coatings (included in Q1 according to the Web of Science Core Collection, impact factor 4.16), which publish the articles contributing to a new understanding of the physical processes of surface formation of materials with new or improved properties.

TPU opens research center for Petrochemistry and Technology

Posted on by Tomsk Polytechnic University

Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) has opened a new subdivision based on the School of Earth Sciences and Engineering. The subdivision will unite a wide range of research areas and will allow carrying out more works for the benefit of industrial partners of the university.

According to Natalya Guseva, Director of the TPU School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, the opening of a new center in the structure of the School and the reorganization of the Innovation Research Laboratory for Drilling, Washing and Slurry Solutions are caused by the development of staff’s competences.

“At the moment, the laboratory staff work in new research areas and can solve a quite wider range of tasks. It will allow the TPU School of Earth Sciences and Engineering to enhance cooperation with industrial partners and positioning on the market for services, as well as to take part in more large-scale projects, where different competencies are required,” Natalya Guseva says.

Konstantin Minaev, Head of the Innovation Research Laboratory for Drilling, Washing and Slurry Solutions, will lead the new center. The subdivisions of the center are located in the TPU academic buildings No. 2, 19 and at the TPU Science Park. JSC Tomskneft VNK, an industrial partner of TPU, contributed to the renovation and re-equipment of premises in academic building No. 19.

“First of all, I would like to thank all the team, as it is a serious step on team building for solving serious tasks at the frontier of the petroleum industry. The center opening will allow expanding the range of research and engineering works in petrochemistry due to the new and up-to-date equipment, interdisciplinary contacts and query enhancement from industrial partners. It is a reply to the question on breaking down barriers among university laboratories,” Andrey Yakovlev, Acting Rector of TPU, said at the center opening.

The most important is that the Center opens additional opportunities for students: they can choose a trajectory, come to the place where new projects are born, use the newest equipment.”

The Research Center for Petrochemistry and Technology will unite five areas: oilfield chemistry, drilling fluids, slurry solutions, reservoir physics, the chemistry of petroleum and petroleum products. The skeleton staff is the laboratory staff, however, new experts, as well as young scientists: graduates and postgraduates, including international ones, will be invited.

“We can carry out large-scale projects, we possess accumulated experience that will allow us to holistically solve serious tasks both in a research area and for industrial partners. I am sure we will have interesting work ahead,” Konstantin Minaev, Head of the Center for Petrochemistry and Technology, addressed the staff.

The Center is planned to carry out both research and industrial projects, however, the key point will be focused on cooperation with industrial partners. To equip the Center on the program of renewal of instruments, there was purchased high-class equipment including a rheometer and tensiometer worth over 15 million rubles.

There was no equipment of such level for research in oilfield chemistry at TPU. It will allow our staff members to become participants of more serious projects for the benefit of industrial partners and will allow our students to master the devices during their study time,” Konstantin Minaev explained.

In total, there was spent over 70 million rubles during several years for installation and purchasing miscellaneous equipment for different units of the Center.

“Today, we see the result of the cooperative path that was travelled by our laboratories in approaching and building relations with each other. At the moment, different subdivisions can say that they can implement large-scale projects for the industry,” Artem Boev, TPU Vice-Rector for Technological Development and Entrepreneurship.