TOMSK, Jun 3 – RIA Tomsk. "Cloning" of plants, eco-friendly decorations, fireworks of increased brightness – these and other seemingly mundane, but no less technologically advanced tasks are solved by young scientists of Tomsk State University (TSU). What developments really simplify work in various industries, from coal to pharmaceutical, – in the material of RIA Tomsk.
Ice melts between us
The solution preventing coal freezing was developed by the staff of the Laboratory of Organic Synthesis of TSU. As the head of the laboratory Viktor Malkov said, the works were made by request of the partner – Kemerovo company, which supplies coal to the Asian part of Russia. Often the goods during transportation, for example, to Yakutia came to the destination in a huge frozen piece ...
"Coal moisture at shipment reaches 15%, plus during transportation it can get wet in the rain. To avoid freezing, usually the rail cars and the coal itself are treated with a solution of calcium chloride (ordinary inorganic salt), but, first, it causes corrosion of the car walls, secondly, it crystallizes on the surface of the coal, which causes its calorific value to be reduced when it is burnt", – explains Malkov.
HI TECH beauty
High-tech ceramics for jewelry have been proposed for use at the Siberian Center for Industrial Design and Prototyping at TSU. University scientists have patented the technology of 3D printing with ceramics and a composition based on zirconium.
"We have developed a series of pendants dedicated to the Siberian animals, we have already held talks with a jewelry company from Amsterdam and are planning to launch sales in Europe by the end of the year", – says the director of the center Viktor Klimenko.
In the Russian market, such jewelry is still difficult to compete with gold – they are not too different in price, but Europe has already appreciated eco-friendly and aesthetic ceramics: collections based on it are created by such jewelry houses as Bulgari and Chanel Fine Jewelry.
Let there be blast!
The new high-energy powder proposed by the student of the TSU Faculty of Physics and Engineering Sergey Sokolov, will help make the fireworks brighter and safer. The additive based on the Al-Mg alloy has combustion parameters that exceed all known analogs and, at the same time, have a lower cost, even in comparison with the Chinese ones.
With this project, he won the "UMNIK" contest of the Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises (FASIE).
"Clones" of plants
"Like stem cells, but cooler!" – a graduate student of the Department of Plant Physiology and Biotechnology of the Biological Institute of TSU and a staff member of the Goldberg Research Institute of Pharmacology and Regenerative Medicine Maria Filonova popularly explains an essence of the researches. She is developing technology for producing cell cultures and microclones of valuable medicinal plants with a high content of biologically active substances.
In fact, it is an opportunity to produce, for example, promising drugs, without using for this purpose plantations of medicinal plants and not experiencing restrictions due to seasonality, climate, and so on. Accordingly, the main consumers of the technology for obtaining cell cultures of plants – are pharmaceutical companies.
Defeat the fire
The methodology by which fire resistance of building materials can be assessed is developed at the TSU Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics.
"The task is to develop a method for assessing various parameters of fire resistance using infrared diagnostics. Simply put, we are trying to fasten a non-contact method for estimating thermal performance in the event of testing for resistance to fire of building materials. We focus on wood materials: OSB, chipboard, plywood, etc", – the employee of the faculty Denis Kasymov tells.
Scientists have already moved from laboratory scale to penultimate: on the landfill in the wild, they are conducting experiments to analyze the accumulation of burning and glowing particles on the floor model, the corners of the building, the roof, the facade. In parallel, studies are underway on the effect of flame retardants on the fire resistance under thermal effects from a reference source – an instrument that holds a given temperature and simulates the thermal effect of an approaching fire.
The latest results from scientists were presented in April at the European Combustion Meeting in Portugal.