A group of researchers from the Department of Strength and Design of the Faculty of Physics and Engineering together with colleagues from ISPMS SB RAS (Institute of Strength Physics and Materials Science of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences) have developed a technology to produce nanoceramics with the coefficient of thermal expansion close to zero. This ceramic composite material having a high resistance to wear will be used for the manufacture of a new class of locking elements for oil and gas industry pipelines.
The composition of the material, which has no analogues in Russia and abroad, includes tungstate of zirconium. Exactly it provides nanoceramics the invar effect - constant size as in the heating and cooling in a sufficiently wide temperature range from -100 to +200 ° C and provides such features as the effective operability in extreme conditions, high structural strength, and light weight.
- The invar effect reduces the friction of isolation valves to almost zero, whereby its service life increases significantly, - says Professor Sergey Kulkov, the head of research group. – That in its turn, reduce the volume and frequency of costly repairs on gas and oil pipelines.
According to the scientist, the main problem is that the tungstate of zirconium is very difficult to enter into the ceramic. Previously, no one in the world have ever done it, but in the course of the research, the inventors found a technical solution to the problem and determined the optimal content tungstate of zirconium in the composition of the ceramic and effective method of sintering. The development received two patents of the Russian Federation.
Engineering solutions developed by scientists of TSU, can be unified in the various areas of technology and focused on the use of domestic resources base, which will be a weighty alternative to imported high technology ceramic products companies - exporters as CeramTec (USA), Morgan (England), SwereaIVF (Sweden).