The famous French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur, who gave the world a process for destroying vegetative microorganisms in liquids (better known as 'pasteurisation'), once said: 'Discoveries can only be made by people who are ready to understand them'. A film crew of the RU-CENTRE Youtube Channel put this adage to the test when they visited ILM&T, Russia's centre for aluminium science. It is here that new alloys and materials are designed to find practically limitless uses for aluminium in all sectors of industry, from aerospace to construction and automotive wheels.
Ahead of progress
It was the Aluminium Association that made the requisite introductions. The Aluminium Association in conjunction with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, and UC RUSAL established the Institute of Light Weight Materials and Technologies in 2017.
'The Institute of Light Weight Materials and Technologies is one of the most technologically advanced members of the Aluminium Association. It's got cutting-edge production and laboratory equipment. It's a unique domestic research centre, which studies, designs and improves aluminium materials for various industries. The Aluminium Association closely cooperates with it on improving standards, using aluminium alloys in various applications and expanding their uses across all sectors of the economy', the co-chair of the Aluminium Association Irina Kazovskaya said in an interview with the host of the Conversation with Business show, Peter Stulikov.
The co-chair of the Aluminium Association Irina Kazovskaya told the host of the Conversation with Business show Peter Stulikov about the cooperation between the Aluminium Association and the Institute of Light Weight Materials and Technologies.
She noted that the materials developed by the research centre are in very high demand in construction today. New aluminium alloys are helping build modern bridges, make cables and building facades, as well as many other products. You can learn all about it at the upcoming 2nd international forum Aluminium in Architecture and Construction (AlumForum 2021), which will be held at the Skolkovo Technopark on September 21-23.
Success cycle
ILM&T's head of science Dmitry Ryabov took the RU-CENTER film crew on a tour of the institute. He told them about the institute's capabilities, which today are literally limitless.
'We've got full cycle additive fabrication capabilities. This allows us to develop unique aluminium based materials and offer full support to our clients: from designing new materials and 3D printing processes, to engineering and optimising parts and components for 3D printing', Dmitry Ryabov noted.
Last year, ILM&T opened an experimental production area for making additive powder in Dmitrov. An atomiser and a powder sieving and packing line were set up there. The experimental production area is now being used to refine powder production processes before they can be adopted for mass production by UC RUSAL; meanwhile, the capacity of the main additive powder production facility makes it possible to meet the demand of not only Russian, but European customers as well. Over the past several years, the production cost of additive powders has gone down severalfold. While five years ago one kilogram of aluminium powder cost EUR 150-200, today our powders are offered at EUR 15-20 per kg. That's how the institute is helping solve the import substitution goal set by the state for the economy. By launching the production site in Dmitrov ILM&T has managed to create a full-cycle production system for further research and engineering.
Research and development
The Moscow branch of ILM&T, which the RU-CENTER crew visited, is carrying out R&D into new alloys and products made from them. There are four key areas of research: wrought, cast aluminium alloys and composite materials, materials for additive fabrication and alumina products.
The institute is currently testing aluminium alloy wheels manufactured by a Krasnoyarsk metal production plant from an alloy designed by ILM&T. If the tests are successful, automotive companies and car owners will be offered lighter wheels which have got improved strength, thereby making it possible to reduce the overall load on the vehicle's load bearing components. 'The way we develop new alloys is similar to how a chef would come up with new dishes', Dmitry Ryabov explains. 'A customer tells us about the properties they want to see in a new product, we then go and select the ingredients, the metals that can be added in various proportions to improve strength, heat resistance or other properties of the material'.
Testing the new alloy wheels manufactured in Krasnoyarsk
The modern equipment used by ILM&T allows it to conduct a broad range of tests:
Climate tests are also conducted in the institute's laboratories. The aforementioned aluminium alloy wheels are currently being tested in salt fog. There is a special chamber in which products can be tested under conditions that are as close as possible to the real conditions of exposure to aggressive elements in a short period of time.
'Once a new material has been tested, we go on to testing the product. And when I say the product, I'm talking about a new product made from the new alloy. If the product tests confirm the target properties we were trying to get, and that's what happens in most cases, that means it can be mass produced for the market', Dmitry Ryabov explains.
As an accredited testing centre ( ISO/IEC 17025:2017), ILM&T conducts product tests to confirm compliance with domestic and international standards.
In an ILM&T laboratory
On to printing!
The global market of metals for additive fabrication is estimated at USD 2.5 bln. Meanwhile, the global demand for high precision products and the development of the industries that use them are expected to grow by a factor of 2 to 3 over the next several years. Additive fabrication is being widely used in the US, Japan, Germany and China. Russia is also turning into a major player on this market, demonstrating sustained growth in sales and production. This has come about as a result of the emergence of a number of companies specialising in 3D printing and engineering products for 3D printing.
'Even though our institute is quite young —not even 5 years old yet, we take an active part in the development of new alloys for the 3D printing of parts and prototypes for the automotive industry, the aerospace industry and machine engineering. Additive fabrication offers some clear advantages: the production costs can be reduced by 15-30% if complex parts are 3D printed, as opposed to being manufactured the standard way', Dmitry Ryabov stresses.
Today we've got a very simple web address: ilmit.ru
The Conversation with Business show was created by Russia's largest supplier of Internet services and business domain registrar, and tells audiences about companies that trust their online assets to RU-CENTER. And that was yet another reason why ILM&T got a visit from the film crew.
This year, the institute launched its own website, developed in cooperation with the IT department of UC RUSAL. The site offers exhaustive information about the services of the Company, its organisational structure, equipment, and staff. By the way, the institute employs 1 Doctor of Sciences and 11 Candidates of Sciences. The new website allows prospective customers to reach ILM&T in a few clicks, regardless of distance or borders.
The ILM&T website - ilmit.ru
RU-CENTER journalists had questions about the domain name of the institute as well. In an era of technology development and the emergence of new professions, such as 'cybersquatting'*, the chances that the short domain name ilmit.ru would be free were close to zero. "So, when we went to register our new domain name, we found that the ilmit.ru name was already taken', Dmitry Ryabov told the host.
*Cybersquatting is registering domain names that contain trademark or brand names owned by somebody else in order to resell them to the owners at a profit or to use them for other, usually nefarious, purposes.
Who held the domain name? What was the role of the Aluminium Association in this project? Answers to these and other questions will be given in the Conversation with Business show, which will air in September.