International competition won by three teachers from the Iesian Polytechnic. The grand prize brought to Iasi: a ball mill

Three professors from the “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University (TUIASI) in Iasi won an international competition launched by the Retsch company, “Retsch Scientific Innovation Competition”, recognized in the field of laboratory equipment for sample homogenization and particle size analysis. The prize consists of a Retsch PM 300 Ball Mill, worth 18,000 euros.

During the competition, projects from 23 countries were presented. The one supported by TUIASI was coordinated by Prof. Dr. Eng. Petrică Vizureanu, together with head of works Dr. Eng. Mădălina Simona Bălţatu and Associate Dr. Eng. Andrei Victor Sandu.

Thus, the TUIASI project was named “Sustainable biomaterial innovations for healthcare – study on the microstructural evolution of Ti-Mo-Si based alloy obtained by high-energy ball milling”.

“Retsch encourages researchers working with ball mills in their projects to share their discoveries and innovations. The participants were invited to present their projects, evaluated by a jury made up of recognized experts in the scientific field. The three most promising projects were rewarded with state-of-the-art laboratory equipment, including planetary ball mills or mixing mills, complete with grinding vessels or goods vouchers for other outstanding participants,” company representatives said.

Professor Andrei Victor Sandu mentioned for ZDI that all team members focused on understanding how these processes influence their physical and chemical properties for an improved application of alloys for health applications. Also, the news of the win surprised them. “We received the invitation to participate in an international competition from a company that deals with laboratory equipment and we were shocked to see that from so many participating countries we took the grand prize. There is not much to say, we have a lot of research in the field and we said to diversify the niche a little, on which occasion we found this opportunity and we hope

in the future, let’s succeed in doing other international level research. That device is basically a mill that grinds materials very finely and this method is different from other methods. Basically, a mechanical thermal alignment takes place, and I said “Why not?”. It was a total shock when they called us and said, we didn’t know why they were calling us. “Did something happen? No, you know, you won.” We will still use the device in research, we have several projects pending, we are still submitting, without infrastructure we cannot do much, and that’s why we were lucky to win the competition”, the university told us.

Furthermore, following the description of the project made by the TUIASI team in a press release, it proposed to investigate the microstructural evolution of Ti-Mo-Si alloys manufactured by powder metallurgy versus the structure of alloys developed by the vacuum electric arc method.

“The project will also evaluate changes in morphology, network parameters, crystallite size, thus deepening the understanding of the material’s fatigue resistance, machinability, corrosion resistance and biocompatibility. This achievement underlines the commitment and creativity of the researchers involved in the development of sustainable and effective solutions for the current challenges in the field of health”, the TUIASI team described the researchers’ achievement.