School of Materials Science and Engineering research club ‘Hi-Entropy’ produces multiple research outcomes with titanium alloy materials
Recognized for research capacities such as publishing in international journals from undergraduate years
[March 9, 2021]
<YU School of Materials Science and Engineering student research club, ‘Hi-Entropy’>
(From left to right: YU School of Materials Science and Engineering Professor Park No-geun, Doh Hee-dong, Kim Ye-jin, Jang Myung-hyun)
A student research club at YU developed titanium alloy manufacturing technologies that can produce the raw materials for bio-friendly implants, thus drawing attention from academic and industrial circles.
They are the ‘Hi-Entropy Club’ (Advisor Park Noh-geun) composed of undergraduate and graduate school students of the YU School of Materials Science and Engineering. This achievement was made through a four-month research part that was part of the ‘Localized Research Activity Support Project’ sponsored by Daegu Techno Park. They were recognized for the contributions created through this research and the club president Doh Hee-dong (26, YU Graduate School of Materials Science and Engineering, master’s degree) received the Daegu Mayor’s medal.
They developed technologies that can produce zirconium (Zr) alloy materials based on titanium (Ti). Most implant materials use aluminum and vanadium alloys based on CP titanium or titanium. ‘Ti-Zr’ alloy production technologies developed as such are more bio-friendly and have improved mechanical properties such strength and hardness compared to existing implant materials.
Currently, there are no companies that produce the raw materials for dental implants and therefore, the entire supply is being imported. This is why the research achievements of the YU students is receiving so much attention. The demand for dental implants is growing by the year with the advent of the global aged society. It is expected that this research achievement will make it possible to substitute imports through localization of source materials and also become possible to respond to the growing demand.
The club president, Dog Hee-dong said, “Experiment at the lab stage is currently complete. We plan to continue research on process optimization for mass production of dental implant raw materials,” while adding, “Through follow-up research, it will be possible to expand the scope of application for the titanium alloy material industry including not only dental implants, but also artificial joints and bio materials.”
The research outcomes of YU School of Materials Science and Engineering students are the results from research capacities accumulated from undergraduate years. In particular, Kim Ye-jin (22), who is currently in an integrated master’s and PhD program at the YU Graduate School of Materials Science and Engineering, made news by publishing her study in the internationally renowned journal <Materials Letters> in December of last year when she was an undergraduate senior. Kim’s research was on cool processing (room temperature processing) of titanium alloys. Due to its structural nature, titanium alloy is difficult to process at room temperature, but through Kim’s research, it became possible to process at room temperature. For such achievements, Miss Kim received the YU President's Award (2020 Y-type Talent Award).
Kim said, “Room temperature processing became possible by discovering the change features of change composed of materials through micro-structure analysis of titanium alloys. Equipment that can withstand hot temperatures and complex pre-treatment procedures must be completed to process materials at high temperatures. With this study, it has become possible to procure economic feasibility. I believe that it can be applied to other titanium alloys aside from the materials that were researched in this study.”
