- Institute of Materials
Research activities in the Institute of Materials are mainly related to the assessment of material properties using the physical and physico-analytical processes. These comprise mainly the ustilisation of microscopic and diffraction techniques, optical emission and absorption spectra in the area of the UV, IR and visible spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, computational thermodynamics supplemented by thermal analyzes, as well as mechanical and technological tests of the metal and non-metallic materials and conductivity measurements of non-metallic materials. At present, six VEGA projects and one APVV project are being dealt with in the Institute. Their focus varies, corresponding to the knowledge base of individual researchers.
Significant scientific and research projects comprise: "Study of effect of the sub-zero treatment temperature on the microstructure and properties of the Cr-V tool steel" - principal investigator Prof. Jurči; “Design and preparation of joints for high-temperature superconducting tapes for lead-free solders and characterization of their properties” - principal investigator dr. Pekarčíková; "Diagnostics of special glasses with optimised ion conductivity"- principal investigator dr. Bošák; “Effect of microstructure and phase composition on corrosion resistance of alloys for hot plating” - principal investigator doc. Kusý; "Material design of high-entropy alloys and their characterization" - principal investigator dr. Priputen; "Physical properties of unaligned structures affected by accelerated ions" - principal investigator Prof. Kubliha.
In addition, part of the Institute staff is involved in a foreign research project of preparing special coatings for drawn wires for the Bekaert Company. Approved, and funded since 1 July 2016, is the APVV project of "Research on the phase interface modification in the coating/substrate system to increase adhesion of hard coatings" - principal investigator Prof. Čaplovič.
The research activities of the Institute of Materials naturally fasten on the projects investigated by the researchers in the former related departments, e.g. the research of now Professors Emeriti Ivan and Dáša Hrivňáks and Marcel Žitňanský. Professor Hrivňák, the welding nestor of Slovakia, led the research into weldability of high-strength steels. For the Swiss railways, he and his team elaborated a report on the options of welding high-strength rails of pearlitic and bainitic structures. Professor Hrivňáková studied the structure and properties of uniaxial rare-earth ferromagnets prepared under domestic conditions. In addition, she participated in the study of kinetics of phase precipitation at grain boundaries of unstabilized austenitic steels. Besides the development of unidirectional crystallisation for the jet engines blades, Professor Žitňanský elaborated a technology for the preparation of joint replacements made of biocompatible titanium alloys.
Other research activities were focused on the study of structure and properties of fast solidified powders for tool steels and boridation of steels (Prof. Grgač); structure and weldability of polymers (doc. Martinec); development of lead-free solders for the electrotechnical industry (Prof. Ožvold); study of properties of the ZrO2- and YBaCuO-based ceramic materials and superionic fluorite composites and glasses (Prof. Kalužný and Dr. Trnovcová); multicomponent special glasses for optoelectronics, nonlinear optics and fibre optics (doc. Labaš and Prof. Kubliha); study of complex metal alloys and their thermodynamic stability (Prof. Janovec); and study of properties of high temperature superconducting materials (Ing. Skarba).
In the field of research, the Institute of Materials has cooperated with various major scientific institutions in Slovakia (the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV) Institute of Materials and Machine Mechanics, SAV Institute of Materials Research, SAV Institute of Physics, SAV Institute of Electrotechnical Sciences, Research Institute of Welding - Industrial Institute, Research Institute of Nuclear Power Plants), as well as abroad (Jozef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia; IFW Dresden and HZDR Dresden, Germany; Politechnika Slaska Gliwice, Poland; University of Rennes, Institute of Chemical Sciences of Rennes, France; Institute of Photonics and Electronics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic; Technische Universität Wien, Austria). From the research point of view, the Institute is divided into five unique departments. Department of Structural Analyzes headed by Prof. Ing. Mária Dománková, PhD.; Department of Heat Treatment, Surface Finishing and Mechanical Tests headed by doc. Ing. Marián Hazlinger, CSc.; Department of Physical Measurements, Modeling and Numerical Simulations headed by Ing. Marián Drienovský, PhD.; Department of Characterization and Processing of Non-metallic Materials headed by doc. Ing. Vladimír Labaš, PhD.; Department of Progressive Materials headed by RNDr. Pavel Priputen PhD.; Department of Corrosion and Corrosion Processes headed by RNDr. Marián Palcut, PhD.; and Department of Coating headed by Prof. Ing. Ľubomír Čaplovič, PhD.
- Institute of Production Technologies
Research and development in the Institute covers the whole range of engineering production technologies with an emphasis on the area of progressive high technologies. Special attention is paid to the current and promising issues of development of production technologies, metrology, assembly, automation and robotization of production processes. The key research and development areas cover:
- Special methods of metallurgical joining of hard-to- weld and surface-treated materials;
- Solderabiliy of metal and ceramic materials;
- Electrolyte-plasma surface treatment;
- Processes based on incremental plastic deformation of the material, kinematic and dynamic characteristics of the 5-axis machining processes;
- Physical and technological nature of laser micro-machining;
- Processes based on the incremental and plastic transformation of material;
- Impact of thermomechanical conditions of plastic deformation on the material structure changes in the bulk forming and chip machining processes;
- Optimisation methods of the design of assembly processes and systems;
- Design and operation of intelligent manufacturing systems;
- Reverse engineering methods;
- R&D of technology for production of complex shaped surfaces of the foundry, forming and plastic processing tools;
- R&D of cast milling tools made of high-speed steels;
- R&D of the production of artistic castings;
- R&D of methods non-contact measurement methods of complex shaped parts.
The research projects of the Institute are funded by the domestic and foreign grants. The current major projects include the ones supported by the Research and Development Agency: Research into new soldering alloys for flux-free soldering using beam technologies and ultrasound (principal investigator: Prof. Roman Koleňák, PhD.); Research into the weld joint properties of the duplex and superduplex steels (principal investigator Prof. Ing. Koloman Ulrich, PhD.); as well as other projects supported by the Slovak Republic Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports, Scientific Grant Agency: Using modern methods of optical 3D scanning for the weld deformation analysis (principal investigator: Prof. Milan Marônek, PhD.); Investigating the effect of selected characteristics of machining process using hi-tech machining technologies on the final quality of machined surfaces and problem-free assembly (principal investigator: doc. Ing. Peter Pokorný, PhD.); Determining the patterns of structure and properties of high-speed steels during remelting and casting in vacuum (principal investigator: Prof. Ing. Alexander Čaus, PhD.); Research, development and application of the quantitative analysis methods of material structure to optimise the technological process of injection moulding (principal investigator: Prof. Ing. Maroš Martinkovič, PhD.); etc.
The international projects within the bilateral cooperation of the Slovak Republic with the Portuguese Republic and the People's Republic of China comprise Challenges in Joining Ti Alloys (project partner: University of Coimbra) and Development of a new multi-component environmental lead-free solder for low-cost electronic devices (Beijing University of Technology). The principal investigator of both projects is doc. Ing. Erika Hodúlová, PhD. Collaborating with the Spanish university and the research and production partners, the Institute is involved in the European multi-lateral project of applied research “Manunet”, Innovative methods of the sheet metal forming tools surface improvement - R&D (principal investigator and project coordinator: Prof. Ing. Peter Šugár, CSc.). Important element of the Institute research and development is the orientation on the applied research projects in cooperation with industrial practice, e.g. the project aimed at optimizing the technological processes of forming in the production of tubes with segmented inner surface for the power industry, in cooperation with the Research and Development Centre of Železiarne in Podbrezová, or the cooperative projects with Volkswagen Slovakia, Sony Slovakia, Eiben Vlkanová and HKS Trnava, focused on the development of the technology of joining the self-supporting bodies of the VW Touareg automobile, assessing the technologies of soldering and lead-free solders, optimization of technological conditions of the austenitic stainless steels metal-printing and optimization of the shaft production by cross-wedge rolling.
The results of scientific research are regularly published in scientific journals and presented at the seminars and conferences at home and abroad. The preeminent scientific results have been published in the Current Contents scientific journals of Materials and Design (IF: 3,501), Journal of Alloys and Compounds (IF: 2,999), Diamond and Related Materials (IF: 1,919), Wear, (IF: 1,913), ISIJ International (IF: 1,140), Archives of Metallurgy and Materials (IF: 1.090) and others. In the framework of research and development activities, the Institute staff has participated in the development of new technologies, such as Induction heating soldering (Prof. Ing. Milan Turňa, CSc. in cooperation with Prof. RNDr. Milan Ožvold, PhD. and Doc. RNDr. Maria Behúlová, CSc.); Inoculation and modification of high-speed steels for cast cutting tools (Prof. Alexander Čaus, DrSc.), Metal surface finishing by plasma discharge in electrolyte (doc. Ing. Štefan Podhorský, PhD.), Production of artistic castings into recycled gypsum mixtures (Ing. Eugen Belica, PhD.), FKM method application for Designing 3D CAD models from photographs (doc. Ing. Ladislav Morovič, PhD.), and others. Some of the Institute research output has resulted in the filing of a utility model application or patent application.
- Advanced Technology Research Institute
The Advanced Technology Research Institute is focused mainly on materials engineering in the field of the ion and plasma technologies, automation and implementation of the information and communication technologies in industrial processes or generally in the field of research, e.g.: nanotechnologies and nanostructures, sensors, specific hardware and software development, computer vision and image processing, big data, humanoids, simulation and modeling. The field of materials research involves theoretical modeling using ab-initio methods, either at a very precise level for small systems (atoms, molecules), or using the DFT methods for materials and surfaces. The areas of automation, information and communication technologies also provide space for research and development in a wide range of hardware, communication and control of automated software tools, knowledge systems, archiving and knowledge distribution of parent systems. Applied research is focused on the following areas:
- Quantum chemistry, benchmarking, material technology and nanotechnology;
- Artificial intelligence, machine learning, human-robot interaction in cooperation with the MTF Institute of Informatics, Automation and Mechatronics.
- Automation and control engineering in industry
The Institute is exceedingly involved in the H2020 project activities, the major tool promoting the research, development and innovation of the European Commission for the years 2014 to 2020. Thanks to the initiative of the Institute, the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava received funding from the European Commission for SlovakION, the strategic development research project. The project was evaluated by the Commission under the TEAMING scheme, which is one of the schemes within the European Union's key programs for the Horizon 2020 research and innovation.
The TEAMING scheme aims at developing the research capacities in materials and technology. Materials research in the field of ion and plasma technologies opens new ptions in materials engineering and nanotechnology, particularly the possibility of modifying the materials properties, surfaces and their interfaces. The result will bring more suitable new technological processes and product characteristics, which cannot be achieved by common methods. Such technologies are also interesting for Slovakia, mainly regarding its key automotive industry. The Consortium involved in the project comprises seven partners with STU being the principle coordinator of the whole project. The aim of SlovakIon, the Materials Research Centre, is to integrate the best high-end ion technologies into the STU research pool. The activities of the Centre will be equally utilised for both domestic and external research, as well as a relatively wide range of services aimed at promoting the research, development and technological transfer of new materials, nanostructures and modified surfaces through plasma and ion technologies into production processes.
SlovakIon, the Centre of Materials Research conducts the base and applied research in the field of materials engineering, as well as modification and analysis of solid surfaces using the ion beam techniques. The effect of ion bombardment on the formation and modification of properties of thin films is being investigated both experimentally and by means of computer simulations. In addition to studying the relationships between structure and properties, the research focuses on various possible applications. A very important part of research and development is the application of low-energy ions and the use of impulse plasma for the formation of metastable phases, specific textures, nanostructures, high density thin films, or the films characterized by their extremely good adhesion. Besides the technology transfer of modern ion technologies, close cooperation with the industrial and other partners is focused on the development of the state-of-the-art equipment in the field. Ion technologies make it possible to use highly accelerated ions at the velocities ranging between 500 km/s and 50,000 km/s, which corresponds to the kinetic energies of between 10 keV and 100 MeV.
SlovakIon, the Centre of Materials Research uses a wide variety of ion implantation devices with the maximum acceleration voltages of 6 MV, 500 kV, 40 kV and 20 kV. Interaction of the ion beam with the surface of the substance generates a number of basic phenomena. Collision of the accelerated ion with the atom in the material may initiate the ion back scattering thus generating a slow or fast reflected atom. The accelerated ion can also initiate a nuclear reaction emitting particles or γ-radiation. In addition, the ion may interact with the electrons on the inner envelopes of the electron sheath, which in turn emits typical X-rays. The detection and spectroscopy of these primary or secondary particles or radiation can be used to analyze the chemical composition of surface layers. Subsequent interactions of the ion with atoms and electrons in the material slow down the accelerated ion until it eventually stops. The “stopped ions” represent an implant for the material; a sufficiently high concentration of implanted particles may then influence chemical composition of the material. Collisions of an accelerated ion with target atoms can generate the energy-conditioned cascading processes between the atoms on the target surface. After thermalisation of the atoms involved in the cascade processes, permanent changes (such as disordered structures in solids or broken bonds in polymers or in biological cells) may take place in the material. The backscattered atoms can then leave the surface, thus letting the affected surface be continuously damaged by radiation. The surfaces may be structured via a focused beam or a beam of a wider diameter by standard lithographic techniques. Physical nature of all the phenomena related to ion technologies is now understood to such a good standard that the ion technologies can be applied in practice in a way that is very well controllable. Ion implantation is a method using the accelerated ions suitable for introduction of foreign atoms (in the form of ions) into the base material, or to create structural defects in the base material. In this way, we can purposefully alter the basic properties of materials. In principle, it is possible to implant all chemical elements, including radioactive isotopes. The material to be implantedby ions, so called substrate, may be of metal, alloy, semiconductor, ceramics or plastics. Implantation of radioactive isotopes and subsequent two-dimensional detection of the channeled and emitted electrons allow precise determination of the impurities location in the lattice of monocrystalline materials. For practical purposes, efficiency of the high energy ion implantation is frequently limited, especially with the desired high ion fluxes over larger areas. In addition, three-dimensional components require mechanical handling. The problems can be overcome by direct implantation of ions, i.e. their immersion in plasma. Impulse bias applied to the sample causes that the ions extracted from a large volume of low pressure plasma are accelerated towards the surface. Compared to the high-energy ion implantation, disadvantage of this technique is contamination of the ion beam; on the other hand, the technology can be deployed in a wider spectrum of ion energies.
Application areas:
- Ion Lithography: microstructuring of photosensitive materials, nanometric scale samples for process diagnostics, nanostructure prototypes and repairs;
- Biomaterials: nanoporous biomaterials, tribological protective layers, antibacterial surfaces;
- Nitriding of austenitic steels and aluminium;
- Surface protection of the titanium and TiAl-based alloys: protection from oxidation of TiAl alloys at high temperatures, protection against Ti embrittlement, protective coatings for TiAl alloys;
- Nanostructuring: nanoporous metal surface structures, nanoporous polymer membrane filter.
Ion-beam assisted deposition (IBAD). Modern ion-beam thin film deposition processes play an important role in enhancing and modifying thin-film properties such as adhesion, hardness, density, surface morphology, as well as in forming the phases, textures or low-temperature deposition. The main advantage of the combined metal plasma immersion and deposition (MePBIID) process compared to the conventional thin film deposition technologies is the athermal accelerated ion deposition, which causes the mixing of the atoms present in the zone interface. In this way, e.g. the layers of excellent adhesion can be prepared even at room temperature. Analogically to the ion beam assisted deposition, textured thin films can be obtained by the MePBIID technique. By varying the pulse voltage and pulse length, the desired preferred orientations in the layers can be achieved. Despite their cumulative growth and columinal grain diameter in the range of 50-500 nm, the sputtered thin layers are compact, without the presence of pores. The basic principle of IBA: when analyzing this type, a high-energy ion beam with energies in the range of 1-100 MeV is directed to the investigated surface. As a result of the interaction of the ions with the atoms of the bombarded material, the ions can either be ejected back, the reflected atoms can be generated, the typical X-rays can be emitted, or the interaction can trigger a nuclear reaction.
Suitable detectors of energy spectroscopy can be used to obtain information from he emitted particles or photons on the type of the atoms under investigation. In addition, incident ions as well as emitting particles lose some energy when passing through the material. It is then possible, again by means of energy spectroscopy, to determine the depth at which the interaction took place, thus obtaining depth profiles with the course of the chemical composition.
Chemical composition of the thin layers and the layers located in close proximity to the surface can be determined by quantitative analysis without the need for standards. It is generally known that the results of IBA are not affected by the presence of substrate. IBA is a non-destructive method as the sample is not distorted. Yet the analysing beam may affect the results in very sensitive materials. The affect can be minimized by certain experimental means. Typical detection limits lie between 100 and 10,000 ppm (depending on the method) and are sufficient for many applications. Devices with standard settings allow analysing the areas several millimeters in diameter. Using the microstrip mode, it is possible to reduce the analyzed area from several micrometers up to diameters less than 100 nm. IBA can be applied to detect the lightest elements, especially isotopes of hydrogen, helium and lithium. The resulting depth profiles of the chemical composition are without erosion of the sample surface, i.e. its damage. Correspondingly, these methods enable the minimum distortion of the depth profiles. Depending on a particular IBA method, vertical resolution of IBA is usually limited from several manometers to approximately one micrometer. However, there is the possibility to increase vertical resolution in the areas close to the surface by means of a special device to the level of one atomic distance. However, these techniques usually cannot be used to obtain information on the state of the chemical bond. IBA is also not suitable for structural analysis. However, specific structural issues such as lattice defects or foreign atom positions can be investigated in the context of the tunnel effect.
- Institute of Applied Informatics, Automation and Mechatronics
The Institute research is oriented to the area of informatisation and automation of control processes at all levels of industrial production management, while reflecting the modern trends of the pyramid model process management. The fundamental research management strategy of the Institute is based strictly on the European legislation requirements for the processes harmonisation of the development and operation of hierarchical management systems, as well as for the vertical integration of management information systems. Focus of the Institute research is defined by the pursuit of global goals of human civilization development via:
- Contributing to the reduction of energy consumption by means of automation, which has a direct impact on the development of ecology;
- Developing safety-critical control systems via thorough elaboration of the general requirements expressed in international standards, which has an impact on improving safety and health protection;
- Increasing the efficiency of developing, operating and maintaining hierarchical process management systems by modeling and testing complex software products.
Based on these principles, the Institure research is oriented towards the following areas:
- Analysis, modeling, simulation and optimization of production systems and processes;
- Big Data and knowledge acquisition for process control;
- Development of integrated industrial process control systems;
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning;
- Implementation of intelligent control methods and the methods of data analysis and processing;
- Research and development in the field of modeling, simulation and analysis of technological processes and mechanical and mechatronic systems;
- Control of robotic systems;
- Control systems for safety-critical processes in industry;
- Automation applications (in the automotive industry, power engineering, mechanical engineering, healthcare, etc.).
Scientific profile of the Institute is in line with the trends identified by the Industry 4.0 concept. The Institute operates the Research Centre of Automation and Informatisation of Production Processes and Systems as a flexible system of automated control of technological and production systems. Its aim is to establish a strong regional Center of Excellence focused mainly on the automotive and engineering industry, which is strongly represented in this region by VW Slovakia, PSA Peugeot Citroën, ZF Sachs, Boge Elastmetall Slovakia and so on. The established research center will significantly foster the innovation transfer to industrial entities.
Major research projects dealt with in the Institute have been: Methodology for demonstrating the nuclear and radiation safety of spent fuel transport containers using the experimentally acquired data (APVV-0308-07); OPVaV project: University Science Park - part Automation Centre (for more details see Campus Bottova), OPVaV project: Research of monitoring and evaluation of non-standard conditions in the vicinity of nuclear power plant; Project of the Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency at the Slovak Republic Ministry of Economy: Development of SW solution for EMAS, an innovative measuring system, and Development of AMAS, an autonomous measuring and archiving system for measuring productivity of the production and assembly lines.
Excellent Teams of Young Researchers have sheltered the project of Numerical simulation-aided design and analysis of technologies of the progressive materials combined joints fabrication. The Young STU researcher projects also include: Analysis of dynamic properties of waveguides for application of mechatronic principles in ultrasound-aided machining, Sysytem of discrimination and evaluation of the ECG signal and its patterns using the SVM (Support Vector Machine) method. In several research projects, the Institute cooperates with foreign universities within the framework of bilateral agreements: TU Ilmenau, Germany (Prof. P. Husár), University of Sint Lieven, Belgium, KAHO Gent (Prof. W. Verscheld), Croatian University of Zagreb (Prof. N. Vrček), and also Kecskemét College in Hungary (Prof. Johanyák).
Other projects:
- Scientific cooperation on the PROMAN-W project management system, and Validation of selected PROMAN-W project management system algorithms with the Forschungszentrum Rosendorf, Germany;
- IPID - International Promotion in Germany: Autonomous Microsystems for Biosensors with Technische Universität Ilmenau, Germany;
- H2020-WIDESPREAD-2014-1 Project (Number of agreement 664526): Slovak Center of Excellence in Ion Beam and Plasma Technologies for Materials Engineering and Nanotechnology, SlovakION, where the Institute co-operates with UVPT;
- Project for VW Slovakia, a. s.: Big Data - predictive analysis for Quality Assurance;
- Project for ZF Sachs, a.s: Design and implementation of a system for optimizing the usability of stretch mandrels related to predictive maintenance;
- Projects focused on strength analyzes and assessment of structural integrity of containers for transport and storage of radioactive waste;
- Design and administration of a management system for spent nuclear fuel inspection stand for VUJE, a.s. (Research Institute of Nuclear Plants);
- Design and administration of the conditioning system for Boge Elastmetall Slovakia.
The Institute research is divided into four departments: Department of Industrial Automation, Department of Information and Control Systems, Department of Applied Mechanics and Mechatronics and Department of Applied Mathematics.
- Institute of Industrial Engineering and Management
The Institute of Industrial Engineering and Management has also won significant achievements in the scientific and research activities carried out in the form of projects supported by the VEGA and KEGA grant agencies, projects under international programs and international scientific and technical co-operation, applied research and development projects and contractual research and development projects:
- Information quality management in project management in industrial enterprises in Slovakia;
- Identification of the key parameters for sustainable business performance in multicultural environments;
- Transformation of the ergonomic program into the company management structure by integrating and utilising the QMS, EMS, HSMS modules;
- Prospects for the development of quality management in relation to the market requirements of the Slovak Republic;
- Key managerial competencies within specific functional areas of management and appropriate ways of their development;
- Checking the maturity of project management processes as a tool of increasing the competitiveness of engineering industrial enterprises;
- Fundamentals of assessment and appropriate methods for practice in teaching managerial subjects;
- Nature and importance of industrial and intellectual property of enterprise, its development, maintenance, protection, valuation and its main contribution to maximizing the value of enterprise;
- Analysis of the current world-wide trends in project management, research of the current situation in Slovakia and a proposal to strengthen its application in the Slovak conditions;
- An electronic platform for streamlining cooperation between universities and industry in the field of education;
- Work competencies in the context of industrial development 4.0
- Impact of the coexistence of different generations of employees on the sustainable performance of organizations
- Proposal of a combination and recombination procedure of the comfort factors indexing in engineering operations.
The Institute scientific and research activities are conducted in the following areas: progressive approaches in organization management, human resources management, development of managerial competencies, digital enterprise and virtual reality, project management, age management, logistics, production, marketing, quality management, operational analysis, ergonomics, ergonomic workplace solutions, innovations and corporate social responsibility. Prof. Ing. Peter Sakal, CSc. and his team dealt with an APVV project “Concept of HCS Model 3E vs. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)”. Socially responsible entrepreneurship and sustainable development are the topics currently resonating in the society, as witnessed by the first place in the public vote in the "Social Responsibility Survey" conducted in 2013 under the auspices of the Institute of Social Responsibility in Ostrava, Czech Republic. The international projects of the Institute address the strategic areas defined in the EU H2020 strategy such as mobility issues, IoT, Smart Cities, or challenges for society represented by gender equality, sustainable development, innovation, cyclical economy, multiculturalism, demographic changes, etc. Owing to its strong networking and cooperation focus, the Institute of Industrial Engineering and Management has become a respected partner and a member of the international projects H2020 consortia:
- A participatory open technology platform improving urban planning through games and simulation (URBICGAMES).
- Advanced tools in mobility smart planning for hubs enhancement and raising efficiency (AtMoSphere);
- Open policies enhancing new networking empowerment for sustainable strategies (OPENNESS);
- Research and Innovation Sustainability for Europe in Slovakia (RISE SK);
- WINning young ICT entrepreneurs (ICT-WIN);
- CooperAtive Research for Logistics in Smart Cities (CSA).
Besides the H2020, the Institute focuses on the ERASMUS+ projects, currently dealing with:
- Innovat – Social Innovation for Youth Entrepreneurship;
- YounGo;
- Enhancing skills and competences to boost material innovations and eco innovations in automotive industry.
Within the research field, the Institute also supports young talents. Every year, great attention is paid to the organization of the Student Research Conference. For several years, successful participants of the Institutional round have attended similar events organised by the Technical University of Zvolen and Tomas Bata University in Zlín, as well as in other international Student Research Conferences.
- Institute of Integrated Safety
The Department of Safety Engineering is mainly involved in the risk analysis and management in both, technical and human fields. The Department utilises analytical methods to assess safety of working environment and technological processes in terms of hazards and risks. Based on the results of the assessment, it then recommends the measures necessary to increase safety levels and also to achieve acceptable working environment.
Within the framework of industrial safety, the Department intensively studies the fire-technical and safety characteristics of dusts. It is experimentally possible to measure the minimum dust ignition temperatures in the turbid and settled states as well as explosion parameters of the turbid dust in the KV 150-M2 explosion chamber, such as the explosion constant, the lower explosion limit and the maximum explosion pressure. Flamability parameters of the turbid dusts are determined in a Hartmann tube. The measurements can be performed at the Department of Safety Engineering according to the requirements of standardized procedures, as well as to specific requirements corresponding to the conditions of practice.
Staff of the Department of Environmental Engineering deal with the analysis of environmental components (e.g. physico-chemical analysis of the drinkable, surface, undrground and waste waters, determination of agrochemical properties of soils and determination of basic biomass indicators) and their possible contamination (e.g. determination of selected pollutants in waters). The research also addresses the reduction of environmental contamination by various, in particular sorption (preparation and testing of modified natural adsorbents) and progressive oxidation processes (AOPs), e.g. UV photolysis, ozonization, sonication and combinations thereof, including preparation and testing of alternative process catalysts, especially on the basis of red sludge and limestone). Department staff can provide quantitative and qualitative analytical determination of hazardous substances (e.g. vapours and volatiles with the boiling point up to 400 ° C using a gas chromatograph with a mass capture detector), analysis of materials and their degradation rate (using a high-sensitivity infrared spectrophotometer in a conventional arrangement, ATR technique, i.e. by increasing reflection from the surface on diamond Gladi ATR, or by mapping under an infrared microscope), or in the field of renewable energy sources.
The research activity in the field of fire engineering is focused mainly on the research of fire risk of materials with emphasis on application for the purposes of detecting the causes of fires and assessing the fire and explosion risks in production areas. The Institute owns a conical calorimeter of the Fire Testing Technology and SEDEX, a safety calorimeter working on the principle of ARC calorimetry. These devices currently represent the world's top in the materials behavior research under fire conditions. The conical calorimeter allows the measurement of heat release rate, total heat release, calorific value, carbon monoxide generation rate, total carbon monoxide release, carbon monoxide yield, smoke generation rate, total smoke release rate and smoke generation rate from heat-laden material flow from 0 to 100 kW m-2. These conditions make it possible to simulate all phases of fire development. The rate of heat release during the combustion process is based on the knowledge that 13.1 ± 0.7 kJ of heat is released per gram of the oxygen consumed by burning most of the organic polymers.
The Institute has modified the conical calorimeter to allow the research into liquid samples. According to currently available information, the Institute of Integrated Security is the second workplace in the world where such a modification has been implemented and tested. Research activities in the field of flammable liquids are primarily aimed at predicting fire behaviour in large capacity tanks from the data obtained by measuring a sample in a vessel of several centimeters in diameter. Possibilities of such prediction were tested on the samples of petrol and ETBE. The results were published in the scientific journals: Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry and Procedia Engineering. A key component of the fire risk research of materials is design of the models predicting the results of large-scale tests (which are extremely time-consuming and costly) from the laboratory test results (especially those obtained from a conical calorimeter). The research results will bring a reduction of testing costs for manufacturers from the Slovak Republic, and also from other Member States of the European Union, thus contributing to their increased competitiveness especially regarding the producers from China and the USA. The issue of competitiveness is becoming increasingly topical, especially after the entry of CETA (Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement) into force and the envisaged signature and entry of the TTIP Agreement into force.
Further research is focused on the options of utilising the results obtained by a conical calorimeter to predict the dynamics of fire development in the flashover stage. Flashover phase is considered the most important phase of the fire development, as it represents the transition between a local and fully developed fire. The SEDEX safety calorimeter allows the research into the propensity of materials towards self-ignition. Self-ignition is a process in which the heat required to ignite a substance is generated by chemical or physical changes in the substance itself or as a result of the interaction of the substance with surrounding factors. The safety calorimeter is primarily used to investigate the propensity to auto-ignition of the liquid substances containing the double or triple bonds deposited on a porous support. The SEDEX standard safety calorimeter allows the measurement of exothermic reactions taking place in a substance under variable temperature conditions. The device has been modified at the Institute to allow the research into the impact of different temperature conditions as well as under variable air access conditions on the autoignition process. In addition to research and education purposes, the SEDEX safety calorimeter is currently also used to process the expertise and expert opinions in the field of detecting the causes of fires.