Design, production, and testing of modern materials and the technologies of the future based on a multidisciplinary approach combining materials engineering with chemistry, physics, mathematics, and medicine (PRA 7)

An engineering design comprises three inseparable elements: materials design, construction design, and technological design. Materials technologies are an interdisciplinary research field that combines materials engineering, chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, and mechanical engineering, which concurrently rely on physics and chemistry. The progression of climate change, depletion of natural resources, urbanisation, and the advancing miniaturisation necessitate a low-emission, closely-controlled, and multivariate production with simultaneous reduction in energy consumption. This constitutes an unprecedented technological challenge that scientists must face in the coming decades. The AGH UST research teams focus on designing, manufacturing, characterising, and functionalising new and currently used materials intended for various branches of industry. The key is to explain and describe the interdependencies between manufacturing technology, structure, and microstructure of the materials and their macroscopic properties. This knowledge, combined with a description of the behaviour of the aforementioned materials under operating conditions and a way of disposing of waste material in post-consumer phases, makes it possible to consciously shape such materials, which prolongs their life cycles and significantly increases economic benefits. All this is in accordance with the growing demand exerted by world development trends, the so-called green economy. Advanced materials technologies offer the opportunity to create new solutions in the service of human health, safety, and the environment, with special regard to recycling. In addition, these new technologies imply energy efficiency and reduction in the exploitation of natural resources.