On September 10, 2024, a meeting of the MEBioSys research project was held. The conference, attended by 45 experts presenting the results achieved in the project’s first year, was organized by the NTC research center at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen (UWB).
Ján Minár opened the meeting from UWB, whose team focuses on developing new alloys, additively produced metal materials and bioactive functional materials based on ceramics. Other topics presented were the simulation of molecular dynamics in biocompatible complex alloys (Jan Očenášek), electron correlation on the material CrMnFeCoNi, classified as a high-entropy alloy (HEA) (David Redka, Ján Minár), laser texturing (Jiří Martan), nanostructuring of biomaterial surfaces (Tomáš Kovařík), or progress in the research of complex concentrate alloys (HEA) (Ludmila Kučerová). Pavel Hutař and Milan Heczko from the Institute of Physics of Materials of the Czech Academy of Sciences presented the project’s key goals and future phases. Milan Heczko then presented a proposal for a material with a complex microstructure based on CrCoNi, included in the group of alloys with multiple main elements (MPEA).
The meeting provided an opportunity to discuss the results and plans for the next year. Important publications and advances were presented, for example, in the field of surface modification of biomaterials and their use in medicine. The experts also presented the ASE2SPRKKR software to design biocompatible materials and high-entropy alloys using quantum-mechanical calculations. This tool simulates the arrangement of atoms in complex alloys and their correlation with atomic structure.
The main researcher of the project is the University of Technology in Brno. Other participating institutions besides the Institute of Physics of Materials of the Czech Academy of Sciences are the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague, the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, and the Czech Technical University in Prague. The MEBioSys project is devoted to the mechanical engineering of biological and bio-inspired systems and is financed by the Jan Amos Komenský Operational Program (OP JAK). The goal is to connect natural sciences and technical fields and bring innovations in the field of implants and industrial materials. The main initiator of the project, Martin Hartl, emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinarity: „Mechanical engineering itself no longer offers space for fundamental discoveries. Innovations come where different fields of science intersect.“
The text is partially taken from the press release of NTC UWB.
