Scientists of Kabardino-Balkarian Republic have created a plastic that replaces metal

Employees of the Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after H.M. Berbekov developed superconstructional polymers that can be used to make medical implants. They are half the weight of titanium, do not conduct heat and do not change temperature under the influence of sunlight or frost.

“Besides, they are radiolucent – ​​a patient with a plastic implant can undergo computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging,” — says the acting director, Vice-Rector of KBSU, Head of the Center for Advanced Materials and Additive Technologies Svetlana Khashirova. — Abroad such materials have been used for a long time. In our country, domestic implants based on superconstruction polymers have not yet been available, and imported ones are so expensive that a triple amount of medical insurance is needed to cover the cost of these products per person.»

The introduction of domestic developments is hindered by an insufficiently developed regulatory framework for the certification of such materials. Perhaps someone will be surprised that high-quality polymers are being researched in Nalchik. However, there is nothing unusual here. Back in the 60s of the last century, one of the strongest domestic schools of materials science appeared in the republic — the polymer school of Professor Abdulakh Mikitaev. In 2008, he managed to revive the scientific center at the university and unite like-minded people around him — and at that time there was no such concentration of researchers in the field of polymer chemistry anywhere in the country. Now the center fulfills orders from both the state and various companies, projects worth more than a billion rubles have already been implemented. About 40 scientists work within the walls of the laboratory (average age is 35 years), all of them are graduates of KBSU. The main direction is the study of a composite obtained from a pure polymer, to which other substances are added that change its properties for certain tasks. The range of possibilities is therefore limitless. Young scientists synthesize polymers for medicine, the space industry, and the automotive industry. And in April of this year, the center received a grant from the Russian Science Foundation to create a fundamentally new polymer as the basis for highly permeable membranes capable of filtering water and removing bacteria and viruses from it, including COVID-19.

Source: Rossiyskaya Gazeta (rg.ru).
North Caucasus Federal District
Date: 07/26/2022
Author: Anna Yurkova (Nalchik)