Metallurgy promotes energy efficiency and drives industrial competitiveness

Metallurgy research is of great importance for any country for three reasons: it enables innovation and the development of new materials with improved properties, it promotes sustainability and energy efficiency by developing more efficient and less polluting processes, and it boosts industrial competitiveness by increasing the capacity to innovate and continuously improve processes and products.

This was considered by Bernardo Campillo Illanes, researcher at the Center for Physical Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Cuernavaca headquarters, who explained that in Mexico the study of this area at an international level has notable relevance because it is one of the main producers of metals worldwide, standing out in the production of silver, copper, zinc and gold.

There is also a considerable number of academic institutions and centres in the country where advanced research is carried out in topics such as new materials, manufacturing processes and sustainable technologies. In addition, specialists are actively involved in international collaboration and scientific publications.

In an interview with The DayCampillo Illanes explained that in the field of metallurgy there are numerous areas of specialization due to the diversity of materials and their industrial applications, but he highlighted three prominent ones: the extractive one, related to the obtaining of metallic or non-metallic minerals; the adaptive one, linked to the manufacturing or alignment processes; and the process one, which occurs when smelting is used.

The specialist in surface treatments and coatings, microstructural characterization of materials and intermetallic compounds, added that in Mexico there is a robust group of scientists dedicated to exploring these three lines in metallurgy.

Among the country’s main institutions, he mentioned UNAM, the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN), the Autonomous University of Metropolitana (UAM), with headquarters in various states, and the Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education of Ensenada, Baja California (CICESE), where everything from steel to more specialized materials is explored.

An example of the advances in the country is related to the manufacture of steel, which has undergone major transformations in the last 10 to 15 years, a period in which manufacturing times have been shortened and the area of ​​modeling, that is, the use of computer tools, has been perfected.

Other innovations are linked to new aluminum and titanium alloys that have been improved with respect to their mechanical properties and corrosion resistance, as well as the use of metals with biomedical applications. More efficient methods for recycling have also been developed, especially in the processing of metal scrap and electronic waste.

The scientist said that metallurgy has resumed and recovered a certain position in the part of industrial and academic development in the world, because There is a great demand for engineers, teachers, or people with a doctorate.especially in the automotive industry, in the energy sector, areas for fuel transportation and in the aerospace branch.

Within the Center for Physical Sciences of the UNAM in Cuernavaca, the work of Horacio Martínez Valencia, a specialist in Atomic Molecular Physics and Optics, a specialist in plasma-based coatings to harden and change the surface of metals, polymers and ceramics, stood out. works with atmospheric plasma, which is used in projects focused on sustainability and pollution cleanup, it is very interesting because it is linked to new materials, such as biodegradable polymers and some ceramicssaid Campillo Illanes.

He stressed that in the automotive or aerospace sector, studies are aimed at creating alignments that produce resistant but lighter materials, In this area, steel has been displaced for several years by lighter aluminum alloys..