KBSU scientist Azamat Khashirov spoke at an advanced Russian conference on chemistry
November 24-25 at the Institute of Organic Chemistry. N.D. Zelinsky (Moscow), the conference “Fundamental discoveries that shape chemistry today” was held, organized by the Scientific School of Academician V.P. Ananikov. Valentin Anannikov opened the event by making a presentation on new directions of development in science and technology in 2023. In his speech, he thanked those present for their interest, noting that speakers from different parts of Russia came to Moscow to participate in the conference, including employees of the South Russian State Polytechnic University (NPI) named after. M.I. Platov (Novocherkassk), St. Petersburg State University (St. Petersburg), Kabardino-Balkarian State University (Nalchik), Tula State University (Tula).
The high activity of fellow chemists from other cities and researchers of the Institute of Organic Chemistry was largely due to the extraordinary nature, interdisciplinary focus and extensive topics of the conference. The participants prepared plenary lectures, key, oral and poster presentations on topics such as: homogeneous metal complex catalysis, chemistry of acetylene and calcium carbide, the study of chemical reactions at the molecular and nanoscale levels, the development and application of additive technologies, hybrid inorganic and organo-inorganic materials, optimization of catalytic systems for organic synthesis.
The report of Ph.D. Azamat Askerovich Khashirov, an employee of the Research Center for Advanced Materials and Additive Technologies at the Kabardino-Balkarian State University on the topic:»Additive technologies and the limits of their applicability.»
We bring to your attention an interview with A.A. Khashirov, prepared by the press service of the Institute of Organic Chemistry.
— Azamat Askerovich, please tell us how the direction you are currently working on developed at Kabardino-Balkarian University? It all started in the basement, so to speak. That is, we had a minimal set of equipment, rather: test tubes all made of glass, reactors of our own assembly. Mikitaev Abdulakh Kasbulatovich then gave birth to this direction in Nalchik. Then it developed, we began to participate in competitions, win grants. With the help of this money, we were able to develop by buying ourselves new equipment, and as a result, we grew into a scientific center — the Center for Advanced Materials and Additive Technologies. We have all the equipment: a wide range of equipment for synthesis — these are metal and glass Swiss reactors, we have a large 100-liter reactor for the production of polyetheretherketone, equipment for studying properties — IR spectroscopy, DSC (differential scanning calorimetry), TGA (thermogravimetric analysis) , DMA (dynamic mechanical analysis), chromatographs, equipment for testing the mechanical characteristics of polymers. That is, everything to study the properties of what we do. In addition, we have equipment for additive technologies — an SLS printer, four SLA printers, three FDM printers, which allow us to print, among other things, serious plastics like polyetheretherketone. In addition, we have injection molding machines, a press machine, extruders — that is, we can carry out a full cycle, from synthesis to final products.
— One gets the impression that you have a fairly extensive and well-equipped instrument base … Now yes: we managed to accumulate such equipment over many years.
— Can we say that now you are no longer afraid of the technological limitations that we encountered? If we are talking about sanctions, then they are a little scary if the equipment fails, but we have adapted to repair it on our own, because all this is not done by magicians with the help of magic — but by the same people. You can order some kind of relay, solder it, and now, the device has been repaired, for example, therefore we are not particularly afraid of sanctions.
— So you all have already learned how to set up your instrument base? Of course, we have learned during this time. For example, I have already assembled several installations for polymer washing, next year I plan to assemble a metal reactor, moreover, a laboratory-industrial one. That is, it is planned to make a mini-model of industrial production. We have all the resources for this. Due to the fact that Nalchik is a small city, of course, it cannot be compared with Moscow in terms of scale, it is easier for us, we all know each other there. If anything, you call a friend: “please make me something out of metal according to the drawing,” from sheet metal, from a solid billet. Grinding, polishing, milling, turning — we can quickly go through all the steps.
– In your report, you mentioned that additive technologies are used in several industries. Can you single out any specific, most demanded and promising direction? I think that now the equipment that has fallen under sanctions is the most in demand. There are about equipment for which you can’t just buy a relay just like that, and there, it may be necessary to make some special products from the same polyetheretherketone. These can be some systems when, for example, a serious dielectric is needed, which polyetheretherketone is. Still, of course, the space industry in Russia suffers without foreign imports. All missing devices, parts, mechanisms, equipment must be replaced with domestic ones, so import substitution is now the most relevant direction.
– What can you say about medical technologies? Medicine is all imported, everything that is implanted in the human body, even in dentistry. And in general, there is nothing domestic, almost all instruments are imported, everything is imported, so it is necessary to completely replace all medicine from scratch with domestic ones. That is, this is already a whole separate and very promising area, because it is certainly time for us to become more independent in this regard.
— Tell me, do you work more with some commercial companies or mostly with government organizations? To be honest, we are open to everyone, without exaggeration. That is, roughly speaking, a person from the street will come, knock on the door and say: “I have such a cool idea, here, help me make it,” we will never refuse this person. Sometimes this does not work in our favor, because sometimes we spend a lot of energy on some kind of development, and a person turns out to be unreliable or something else happens, but we do not refuse anyone, we strive to help everyone.
– Did technological sanctions against Russia somehow affect the number of orders your Center receives? There have definitely been more orders. A lot of people come with their tasks, and we solve them.
– How long does it take on average for a full cycle of fulfilling an order: development, adjustments, implementation and production, if you can even single out a certain average value? Everything depends on the statement of the problem, namely, on its formulation. Let me give you an example of a recent challenge: we were given the goal of creating an o-ring. As the customer put it: “I need a PEEK O-ring.” No problem, we’ll do it. They made him. It doesn’t work. We say: «Why do you need it, what do you want in the end?». The customer explained, and from the second iteration we immediately did what he needed, the part that passed all the tests. Therefore, if the customer correctly formulated the idea, TK — the whole process can take one day. Otherwise, when there is no clear TOR, the implementation of this task can take many months. — How much time has passed from the moment when the Center bought the first device to the current state of the instrument base and the level of technical equipment? I’ve been working at the Center for eight years, if I’m not mistaken. Before me, the Center existed for about the same time, that is, for at least 15 years.
– What can you say about the team of specialists of the Center where you work? We have a good team that has been formed over a long period of time. There are very few new people, there are practically none. The entire backbone of the team has been working since the time the Center was founded, new people were selected very carefully and tested over the years. We have one employee assigned to this equipment for each device or set of devices, and over time this person becomes a specialist in his field. In my opinion, this approach is better than a too multidisciplinary employee who does not fully understand anything.
– Are there many similar centers of additive technologies in Russia now? I think that there are few such large ones, but small ones, most likely, are almost everywhere.
– What is the uniqueness of your Center? As I said, we have a full cycle from synthesis to obtaining a product by various methods (milling, turning, additive processing methods in various ways — FDM, SLS, SLA), and everything is connected in one place.
– Does your Center organize training in one format or another: practical seminars or master classes? Oh sure. As a rule, we work on request: when a request comes, we train the employee who came to us to work on one or another equipment that we have and is presented on the site. But we do not have enough time to develop our own courses.
Source: https://zioc.ru/events/news-announcements/pub-31485817