The formation of research in the field of chemical technology of ceramic and composite materials in Komi Scientific Research Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1980-1990-ies)

Simakova Svetlana Alekseevna ORCID: 0000-0001-7361-0692 Junior Researcher at the Department of Humanitarian Interdisciplinary Studies, Federal Research Centre «Komi Science Centre of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences» 167982, Russia, Komi Republic, Syktyvkar, 24 Kommunisticheskaya str., office 305 simakova74@list.ru

It is well known that a prerequisite for the prosperity of the economy of a particular region and the entire state is a high level of development of science and technology. The role of scientific and technological progress remains crucial in all key areas of human activity. Russian science has a unique historical experience of institutionalization in the regions of the country in relation to solving state tasks. The study of the history of this period is becoming especially relevant at the present stage of reform, in connection with the emerging issues of state participation in the selection and financing of scientific topics, management of research teams. The reconstruction of the process of formation of chemical research in an academic institution allows us to identify specific mechanisms for the formation of a scientific direction, to determine the influence of factors of state regulation of scientific and industrial spheres on the development of science in the region.

By the second half of the 20th century, Soviet and foreign scientists had achieved significant results in studies of the composition and structure of solids, kinetics, thermodynamics and the mechanism of reactions involving solids, which served as the theoretical basis of materials science. At the same time, due to the development of electronics and radio engineering, the construction industry, the need to improve the efficiency of equipment in the aviation, rocket and space industries, etc., scientists faced the task of creating new materials with special characteristics (high strength, low or, conversely, high electrical conductivity, etc.), which stimulated scientific research and gave In turn, the impetus for the development of scientific research in the field of materials science and technology of new ceramic and composite materials.  

The solution of a wide range of fundamental and applied problems that arose in the process of creating solid materials with specified properties in the country is associated with the scientific activities of academicians V. V. Boldyrev (Institute of Solid State Chemistry and Mechanochemistry of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences), Yu. D. Tretyakov (Moscow State University), G. P. Schweikin (Institute of Chemistry of the Ural Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, with 1991 — Institute of Solid State Chemistry of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences), etc. Under the leadership of V.V. Boldyrev, the possibility of controlling the reactivity of solid-phase bodies by creating certain types of defects in crystals was studied ^[1]. The founder of the scientific school in the field of solid state chemistry, inorganic chemistry, Yu. D. Tretyakov developed cryochemical methods that made it possible to obtain substances and materials with special physico-chemical properties (magnetic, electrophysical, etc.), studied the processes of defect formation and nonstoichiometry of solid-phase materials ^[2]. Under the leadership of G. P. Schweikin, the basics of high-temperature synthesis and control of properties of ceramic composite materials, refractories for metallurgical enterprises were developed ^[3].

Ceramics, the production of which is characterized by low energy consumption, consumption of scarce materials, the presence of large reserves of raw materials, increased environmental friendliness and the possibility of obtaining materials that meet the most complex requirements, in the second half of the twentieth century. acquired great importance as an alternative to metal alloys. In the second half of the 1980s, research on the problems of obtaining this new promising type of materials began in the Laboratory of Chemistry and Solid State Physics of the Department of Chemistry of the Komi branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The main directions and results of the laboratory's work are reflected in publications dedicated to the anniversaries of the FITC Komi NC Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences ^{[4, 5]}, the first issue of the periodical of the Institute of Chemistry of the FITC Komi NC Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences ^[6], which also published memoirs about the organizational period of the laboratory ^{[6, pp. 21-23]} of its employees Candidate of Chemical Sciences B. N. Dudkina and O. A. Sevbo. The history of the formation and functioning of the Laboratory of Chemistry and Solid State Physics of the Department of Chemistry of the Komi Scientific Research Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the 1980s and early 1990s was not considered by researchers. The professional activity of the laboratory scientists during this period served as a starting point for further development of research in the field of materials science and technology of ceramic and composite materials, continued at the Institute of Chemistry of the Komi National Research Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The study of the history of the formation of this new scientific direction for the republic made it possible to identify the factors that caused this process, contributed to the identification of features and trends in the development of promising areas of scientific research in the Komi Republic and Russia.    

The Laboratory of Chemistry and Solid State Physics was organized in the Komi branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1986 on the initiative and under the guidance of Dr. Geol.-mineral sciences of B. A. Goldin ^{[7, L. 197]}. After graduating from the Gorky Molotov State University in 1955, Boris Alekseevich worked at the Institute of Geology of the Komi branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1964, at the All-Union Scientific Research Geological Institute, he defended his PhD thesis on the topic: "Intrusive complexes of the central part of the Lyapinsky anticlinory (Circumpolar Urals)", in 1974 at the Institute of Geology and Geochemistry of the Ural Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences (Sverdlovsk) — his doctoral dissertation on the topic: "Petrographic evolution of volcanism of the axial zone of the north of the Urals". He was engaged in petrography and conditions of formation of igneous and metamorphic rocks. Volcanoes were studied in particular detail by B. A. Goldin. During the research, the scientist proved the possibility of using acidic volcanites for the production of ceramics. In 1978, B. A. Goldin moved to Syktyvkar State University to the position of professor of the Department of General Physics, in 1981-1983 he was vice-rector for scientific work at the university ^{[8, pp. 441-442]}. According to the Candidate of Geol.-Mineral Sciences E. P. Kalinin, who worked in the 1960s with Boris Alekseevich in the Laboratory of Petrography and Ore Minerals of the Institute of Geology of the Komi branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, at the University B. A. Goldin closely engaged in solving the problem of "obtaining new ceramic and composite materials, using for these purposes his knowledge and various accumulated in numerous expeditions types of mineral raw materials (porcelain stones, kaolinites, tourmaline, wollastonin, aksinite, etc.) of the north of the Urals" ^{[9, p. 29]}. During this period, B. A. Goldin began to develop a scientific direction, which he himself defined as a method of "studying crystals underlying the creation of new materials" ^{[10, L. 40]}. Boris Alekseevich studied the influence of external factors on the structure and properties of crystals (the influence of gravitational, magnetic and electric fields on the processes of crystal formation, etc.), carried out the search and cultivation of crystals, modeling the conditions of crystal formation to improve technological processes, experiments on the creation of ceramic materials with specified physical properties for scientific and technical purposes ^{[10, l. 41, 42]}. In 1984-1985, under his leadership, the university developed two types of ceramic materials based on non-metallic raw materials of the Komi ASSR, which, according to their characteristics, were suitable for the manufacture of special technical ceramics and radio ceramics ^{[11, L. 538]}.

Recognizing the relevance of the scientist's research on the creation of new promising materials that could be used in various industries of the republic, Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the Komi branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Candidate of Geol.- Mineral Sciences N. I. Timonin proposed to organize work on this issue in the Komi branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. On December 30, 1985, at a meeting of the Presidium of the Komi branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, it was decided to create a laboratory of chemistry and solid state physics in 1986 as part of the Chemistry Department ^{[11, L. 526]}. A certain role in its opening was played by the beginning of construction of the Orbita plant in Syktyvkar. The company planned to organize the production of high-tech cladding for Buran ships and other spacecraft, the development and production of electronic devices for hypersonic missile systems ^[12]. The composite materials necessary for the plant were supposed to be produced from high-purity substances purchased abroad. B. A. Goldin, based on the results of his research, proved that natural mineral raw materials can be used in production instead of imported expensive substances ^{[13; 14, l. 88-89; 6, p. 21]}. This problem has become decisive in choosing the direction of research related to the development of methods for obtaining new types of ceramic and composite materials based on mineral resources of the Komi ASSR and nearby territories ^{[15, L. 13]}.

The period of formation of scientific activity in the Laboratory of Chemistry and Solid State Physics of the Department of Chemistry of the Komi branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences is reflected in the memoirs of its employee, Candidate of Chemical Sciences B. N. Dudkin: "We started with one empty room on the fifth floor at the Institute of Geology and Approval of laboratory topics in the Department of Chemistry and Technology of Inorganic Substances, then the USSR Academy of Sciences, but with great enthusiasm and faith that everything will work out for us. In Moscow, we [B. A. Goldin, B. N. Dudkin — S. S.] were an interesting couple. The beginning of summer, the heat and stuffiness, and two in suits on Leninsky Prospekt, one of them on a "bone leg" in a cast chasing trolleybuses. However, everything worked out — the subject was approved, money for appliances and equipment was allocated, the staffing table was approved, and now you can work. The work began with the organization of expeditions for raw materials to the Circumpolar Urals, with the installation and debugging of equipment, with the training of the first employees of the laboratory in the basics of ceramic technology. The first samples appeared, the first publications on ceramic subjects, new employees came. Life went on its own way..." ^{[6, p. 22]}.

O. A. Sevbo writes about his work in the laboratory in the second half of the 1980s: "We started with porcelain stones, which could replace expensive imported raw materials for the production of electrical porcelain (in the production of electrical insulators). In reality, porcelain stones looked like solid blocks of gray color, which had to be crushed into a fine powder, pressed into blanks in the form of washers and rectangular beams and sintered in electric furnaces at various temperatures and firing times. And so, the work began to boil – the romance of scientific everyday life began. Hours-long firing of ceramic blanks was sometimes delayed for several days. Everyone had to take turns at the electric stoves. <...> Then the samples were polished, examined under a microscope, X-ray phase analysis was performed, their density, porosity, electrophysical properties, etc. were measured. The measurement results were carefully recorded in laboratory journals. It was necessary to find out how the type of feedstock, its chemical and phase composition affect the sintering process and the properties of the resulting ceramics. The mathematical processing of the results was carried out by your humble servant, the author of these lines, who initially had only a programmable calculator "Electronics MK-54" at his disposal from computer technology. Along the way, we had to master the methods of planning the experiment and conducting various measurements, as well as teach the simplest programming and computing techniques to laboratory staff..." ^{[6, p. 23]}.

In 1986-1990, under the leadership of B. A. Goldin, the laboratory developed the topic "Creation of new types of ceramic and composite materials based on non-metallic formations of the Timan-Pechora TPC". The responsible executors were B. N. Dudkin, Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences N. S. Sekushin, T. M. Sporsheva ^{[16, L. 16]}. Within the framework of this scientific problem, the staff conducted studies of silicic acid apovolcanites (metasomatically modified rocks of trachyliparites and liparites) in the north of the Urals, ophicalcites (fine-grained metamorphic rock, which includes calcite and chrysotile) Vangyrskoye deposit of the Circumpolar Urals, apocarbonate serpentinites (rocks consisting mainly of serpentine group minerals often contain magnetite, chromite, calcite, talc, tremolite) The Circumpolar Urals ^{[17, l. 8]}.

To determine the possibility of obtaining new ceramic materials, laboratory staff studied samples of natural ophicalcites ^{[18, L. 38]}. According to the scheme of classical silicate analysis and semi-quantitative emission spectral analysis, scientists have determined the chemical composition of the rock. Based on the results of petrographic, physico-chemical and X-ray analyses, the chemical properties of the ceramic material and the mineral composition of the unburned samples were studied. During the research, it was determined that the samples are carbonate-silicate rock of calcium and magnesium. The changes in chemical and phase compositions occurring during heat treatment in the temperature range of 1300-1600°C were analyzed ^{[18, L. 40, 43]}. To obtain complete data on mass loss during calcination of minerals, as well as to determine the melting point and the appearance of the liquid phase in ceramics, fire tests of the material were carried out. Tests on the refractoriness of samples from pure rock have shown that they are resistant to temperature, depending on the composition, in the range of 1350-1500 ° C with a predominant content of calcium compounds ^{[18, L. 50]}. Experimental studies have determined the physico-chemical properties of a ceramic material obtained on the basis of natural and artificial ophicalcite, it has also been noticed that the prototypes begin to collapse after a while. Having analyzed the process of self-destruction of ceramic samples after firing at high temperatures, scientists have suggested that the material's ability to self-destruct is determined by a change in the polymorphic forms of bicalcium silicate (silicate decay) ^{[18, L. 49-53]}. According to the results of experimental data obtained during the study of samples, it was proposed to use the property of raw materials of this mineral composition (spontaneous destruction with a certain period of induction after high-temperature treatment) to create a ceramic material capable of maintaining its strength properties for a certain estimated time, as well as to continue research in this direction ^{[18, L. 60]}.

Another area of the laboratory's work in the period under study on the problem of creating new types of ceramic and composite materials based on non-metallic formations of the Timan-Pechora TPC was research to determine methods for obtaining materials similar to porcelain when using apovolcanites of the north of the Urals as ceramic raw materials without the introduction of additional components ^{[19, L. 3]}. As part of the research, scientists have determined the chemical and mineral composition of apovolcanite samples, fire resistance, and sintering temperature range. During roasting by X-ray method, they monitored the process of phase formation in the material, studying the compositions of samples obtained at different temperatures. Ceramic samples obtained from apovolcanites were characterized by parameters of water absorption, density, glass content, etc. ^{[19, L. 16]} During experiments, laboratory staff developed a composition of a glass-ceramic composite material based on apovolcanites, in which reinforcing elements and their enclosing matrix were formed during the firing of the material itself. Based on the results of studying the sintering mechanism, the accompanying physico-chemical processes and the patterns of changes in the phase composition occurring during the firing of apovolcanite samples, a number of mathematical models of the sintering process were constructed that can work under multifactorial experimental conditions ^{[19, l. 91]}. The construction of models of the manufacturing process of laboratory samples was extremely important for further experiments, since they made it possible to predict the properties of the resulting ceramic materials.

For the production of ceramic products that were used in energy and electrical engineering, magnesium-silicate dielectric ceramics were used in the country, which were obtained on the basis of talc of low-iron grades.   Due to the limited reserves of this type of raw material in the country, which was mined only at the Onotskoye deposit in the Irkutsk region, scientists at the Laboratory of Chemistry and Solid state Physics suggested that low-iron apocarbonate serpentinites of the Circumpolar Urals could be used to produce dielectric ceramics. 

To solve the problem of obtaining functional ceramics from this type of raw material, the laboratory staff studied in detail the mineral and chemical composition of serpentinite samples and established their compliance with the requirements for the composition of raw materials for the production of steatite, cordierite and forsterite ceramics. The mechanisms of conversion of serpentine into forsterite have been investigated, and samples of ceramics from a charge prepared on the basis of apocarbonate serpentinites using standard technology have been studied ^{[20, L. 4]}. The elastic properties of materials (Young's modulus, shear modulus, etc.), as well as porosity, true density and other parameters have been experimentally determined by non-destructive testing of porous ceramics using ultrasound. It was found that laboratory samples in most physical parameters surpassed ceramics made from scarce low-iron talc from the Onotskoye deposit, asharite of the Far East and other types of raw materials, and met the requirements of the Ministry of Electronic Industry of the USSR ^{[21, L. 4]}.

Research on the production of forsterite ceramics was carried out in close cooperation with the Ukhta Progress plant of the USSR Ministry of Electronic Industry, which specialized in the production of porcelain, steatite and cordierite heat-resistant ceramic insulators, high-voltage ceramic capacitors, piezoceramic products made of barium titanate. The company was organized in the village. Vodny in 1957 for the production of steatite products and glass insulators for the electrical industry on the basis of a liquidated radium plant and until 1966 was called "Komielektrosteatit" ^{[22, p. 46]}.

In order to develop production based on local raw materials, the plant's management concluded an agreement on creative cooperation with the Komi branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences ^{[21, l. 12]}. Within the framework of the agreement, at the level of laboratory and laboratory-factory developments, employees of the Laboratory of Chemistry and Solid state Physics studied the operational and technical requirements of the material for the production of plant products ^{[21, L. 4, 8]}. Technological tests were carried out in the factory for the manufacture of capacitors and other products from ceramic mass developed in the laboratory ^{[19, l. 102]}. As a result, a method was created for producing forsterite materials for the manufacture of capacitors K 15K-6100-20, bases of ceramic disks UK7.810.046, substrates for hybrid chips ^{[16, L. 26]}, which was successfully implemented at the plant ^{[13, L. 56]}. The results of the laboratory's work carried out in the second half of the 1980s on the problem of creating new ceramic and composite materials were reflected in a scientific report ^[17-20] and a number of publications ^[23-26].

In addition to the production of dielectric ceramics, a number of other studies were of practical importance. In the second half of the 1980s, scientists developed a technological process for obtaining ceramic materials for embedded parts by the method of GYPSUM (hot isostatic pressing) for NPO Composite of the Ministry of General Mechanical Engineering of the USSR (Kaliningrad, Moscow region, now Korolev) ^{[10, L. 56]}, an organization engaged in the creation of materials for rocket-space technology ^[27]. By order of the Komi OK of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the Komi ASSR, the laboratory developed experimental recipes for obtaining materials for the production of sanitary ware, ceramic tiles and facing materials used in the construction industry of the republic, based on the clay of the Belgop deposit, titanium concentrate of the Yareg deposit, glass and tile fighting, etc. ^{[28, L. 8]} Introduction The laboratory's developments in production allowed the use of new types of raw materials widely distributed in the republic, ensured its integrated use, and the production of high-tech ceramic and composite materials based on it.

The development of research in the field of chemical technology of ceramic and composite materials was facilitated by the significant strengthening of the scientific and logistical base of the Laboratory of Chemistry and Solid state Physics.  According to B. N. Dudkin, when the laboratory was created, "it consisted of two employees [B. A. Goldin, B. N. Dudkin — S. S.], one stove and one room" ^{[6, p. 22]}. By 1990, its staff had increased to 14 employees, including senior scientists. Associate Candidate of Chemical Sciences B. N. Dudkin, sci. Associate Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences N. A. Sekushin, Jr. scientific. Co-author T. M. Sporsheva, physicist S. I. Kolosov; chemists O. A. Sevbo, I. V. Klochkova, A. Y. Bugaeva, etc. The laboratory was provided with five working rooms, instruments and equipment (vacuum electric furnaces SNVE-1.31/16 and SNVE-1.25/25 and 2; hot casting unit 06FKL 100/200; derivatograph Q-1500 for thermogravimetric, differential thermogravimetric thermal analysis; X-ray diffractometer DRON-3M for structural studies and phase analysis of samples and others) ^{[16, L. 16, 28]}. According to its head B. A. Goldin, by 1990 the laboratory had "the necessary set of equipment for the preparation, firing and study of ceramic and composite materials, conducting research at a high scientific level" ^{[16, L. 28, 29]}.

The importance of the scientific work of the Laboratory of Chemistry and Solid State Physics of the Department of Chemistry of the Komi National Research Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences was noted by the Director of the Institute of Chemistry of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, G. P. Shveykin, at a visiting meeting of the Presidium of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, dedicated to the prospects of development of the Komi Scientific Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and its scientific institutions, which took place in Syktyvkar on October 13, 1993. In his speech, Gennady Petrovich stressed: "If we do not talk on a large scale, forest chemistry, petrochemistry, inorganic chemistry, but to speak more professionally and specifically, in those areas that have now crystallized, the topics of work are the most relevant now. This is the development of work in the field of ceramics, the development of work on the production of various physiological compounds. This includes the economic part, works aimed at improving the standard of living of a person, and a huge reserve for the transformation of the entire national economy in the field of ceramics. Look at what is being done in the world, there is already a ceramic engine. In this regard, we have only profanation of this engine. We have one small ceramic center in our country and in Russia. <...> The Urals and Komi could... to develop sciences in the field of materials science and ceramics. This is extremely important now" ^{[29, l. 16, 17]}.

Research in the field of materials science and technology of ceramic and composite materials was further developed at the Institute of Chemistry of the Komi National Research Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, organized on the basis of the Chemistry Department in 1995. By this time, the range of issues being developed in the Laboratory of Chemistry and Solid state Physics had expanded and covered the problems of creating new ceramic and composite materials based on mineral raw materials and products its enrichment and processing. In 1996, in order to increase the efficiency of scientific activity and the formation of separate scientific directions, the Department of Chemistry and Solid State Physics with laboratories of ceramic Materials Science and colloidal chemical Materials Science was established on the basis of the laboratory ^{[30, l. 178]}.

Summing up, it should be noted that the presence in the republic of promising deposits of mineral raw materials suitable for the creation of new materials with special physico-chemical characteristics, as well as the necessary research base; the development of high-tech industries in the Komi ASSR, became the main factors in the organization of scientific research in the field of materials science and technology of ceramic and composite materials in the Laboratory of Chemistry and Solid State Physics of the Department of Chemistry of the Komi Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Under the guidance of Dr. Geol.-Mineral Sciences B. A. Goldin scientists B. N. Dudkin, N. S. Sekushin, T. M. Sporsheva and others developed the physico-chemical foundations for the creation of high-tech materials with special properties (magnetic, electrophysical, etc.) based on the mineral raw materials of the republic. In the laboratory, in order to improve technological processes, the regularity of changes in the properties and structure of materials from the conditions of thermal exposure was identified and studied, promising ceramic materials with a set of properties necessary for practice were obtained.  A number of developments successfully implemented in production were of great importance for the development of the region's industry.

The article was prepared as part of the state assignment on the topic of research No. 122040600068-9 "Studying the northern territories of European Russia: formation of scientific communities".