A new generation of implants or unique materials to be used in industry and transport. These are some of the many achievements pursued by scientists from five Czech institutions who jointly succeeded in the Cutting-edge Research grant call. The project "Mechanical Engineering of Biological and Bioinspired Systems", headed by Brno University of Technology, received the most points out of 75 submitted applications and was recommended for funding with a budget of half a billion CZK for five years. Work on the research officially started at the beginning of September.
Pavel Hutař (left) and Martin Hartl at a press conference (photo: Václav Koníček, BUT)
"I believe that one of the keys to the success of our project is its multidisciplinarity. In engineering itself, there is not much room for breakthroughs; These occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries and for mankind, they were fundamental. This does not mean that engineering is no longer important, but that we have to go to the margins of the field, where engineering meets other disciplines. Here we can make new, fundamental discoveries," says Martin Hartl from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of Brno University of Technology, who heads the MEBioSys project.
The aim of the project is, among other things, the development of similar innovative components (photo: Václav Koníček, BUT)
In addition to experts from BUT, chemists, material scientists and 3D printing experts will also be involved in the project. More than 150 scientists from five Czech research institutions are to participate in the research. Teams from BUT plan to devote themselves to, for example, the research of superlubricity, a phenomenon in which zero friction occurs. " Superconductivity, or zero electrical resistance, is a generally known term. It is a phenomenon that mankind has known and studied for half a century, although we are still waiting for the discovery of the ideal superconductor. Newer and less explored is superlubricity. Friction processes are all around us and they are sometimes even desirable – without friction, for example, we would not be able to move or drive vehicles. But elsewhere they are negative, for example in machines. It is estimated that around 23% of the world's energy consumption is wasted through energy losses associated with body contacts and friction and this is a huge percentage. If friction were zero, losses and thus energy consumption would decrease. That is why we are so interested in this phenomenon," Hartl explains, adding that scientists want to draw inspiration from nature. "In human joints, for example, friction is very small," he adds.
Mutual inspiration
The interconnection of the world of nature and machines is the basic idea of the research project. Research work is to lead in two directions: to transfer inspiration from nature to machines and, conversely, to transfer mechatronic solutions to nature, for example in the form of a new generation of implants. "One of the goals of the research is to develop a material that will have a gradient structure and mimic the structure of bone. It should have the ability to osseointegrate, i.e. to heal into the body, and also drug-eluting ability, which means that it would contain drugs that accelerate the healing process following the implantation. It is therefore a practical benefit for society, although it is fair to add that the journey from the prototype to the human body is quite long," says Hartl.
The second research direction brings inspiration from nature to the world of machines and leads to the development of new materials and components made using additive technologies. "These are lightweight structures that can be used in aerospace, they can feature a memory effect or controlled energy absorption. Hierarchical materials with implemented piezoceramic elements that form an active part that is capable of detection, energy production or even active change of mechanical response. The possibility of creating a plethora of materials that can be designed exactly to suit the application opens up for us," explains materials expert Pavel Hutař from the Institute of Physics of Materials of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.
Martin Vrbka in the laboratory of biotribology (photo: Václav Koníček, BUT)
For mankind, inspiration in nature has paid off many times. For example, the study of a gecko that can run upside down on the ceiling has led to a deeper understanding of a phenomenon called adhesion. Or lotus: although it grows in a muddy pond, its leaves are perfectly clean, which has led to the investigation of its self-cleaning abilities. The researchers then used nanotechnology to mimic this effect to create surfaces that have similar properties.
Top among tops
The MEBioSys project is still formally at the stage where it is recommended for funding. Thus, it is waiting for official confirmation of the allocation of the required budget. Thanks to the fact that the grant application from BUT received the highest number of points of all applicants, the researchers believe that this is only a formality. And because they have a lot of research work ahead of them, they started it at the beginning of September.
The call Top Research from the Operational Programme Jan Amos Komenský is to be the last one for a long time to offer European funds to support research and development. Overall, 75 projects participated in the call, 66 of them passed the first round of evaluation, and in the second round the evaluation committee, which included foreign experts, recommended 15 projects for funding. A total allocation of CZK 8 billion is being distributed.
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Almost a fifth of the half-billion budget envisaged by the five-year MEBioSys project will be used for investments in new equipment. "In the case of our institute, this means an investment of about five million crowns in the purchase of a new device, the so-called tribometer, which is designed to measure friction at the micro and nanoscale and will allow us to expand the existing research," explains Hartl.
Key investments totalling almost forty-five million are planned by the University of Chemical Technology in Prague and the Institute of Physics of Materials of the Academy of Sciences. "These are two unique devices for 3D printing of metals and ceramics, which allow both simultaneous printing of several metal materials at once and registration of metal and ceramics. These devices are crucial, for example, for the creation of hierarchical materials enabling the transformation of mechanical energy into electrical energy or the production of a new generation of implants," adds Hutař.