MISiS, a leading Russian technology university based in Moscow, has received a $2.7 million “megagrant” from the Russian Government to start developing Russia’s first supercomputer-based capabilities to create new materials for various industrial sectors.
A new, state-of-the-art lab is expected to provide a fast track for supplying the Russian economy with materials designed to have specific properties, said Prof. Igor Abrikosov from the University of Linköping in Sweden, who will lead the future lab.
“Modern projects across economic sectors now require that new ”smart” materials be used. Currently, such solutions take about 20 years to develop. Our task is to use high technology and high-capacity computing to reduce the term to six-to-nine years, depending on the specifics of a material. At inception, we envision a supercomputer capacity of about 40 teraflops; ideally, this should soon be augmented to 300 teraflops,” said Prof. Abrikosov.
Materials that the new lab will focus on will vary from new steels to nanosystems, including those with so-called quasicrystals. The materials will be used in a wide range of sectors, from metalworking to nuclear energy, and from car-making to aerospace.
