OREANDA-NEWS. NEVZ-CERAMICS, established by RUSNANO and NEVZ-Soyuz with support from the Novosibirsk Oblast Administration and the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has commissioned a new processing facility and begun serial production of nanostructured ceramic goods for the electronics, radio-technical, defense, electric power, and oil and gas industries and for medicine. Opening the complex is one more step in creating domestic industrial production of high-tech products from ceramics. The goods meet the quality standards of both Russian and global markets.

Approximately 1.5 billion rubles are being invested in the project. RUSNANO will co-invest up to 790 million rubles.

Ceramics, thanks to highly desirable physical-chemical properties, have become one of the key materials of our day. Ceramic materials resist wear and corrosion, are impervious to variations in temperature, have a low coefficient of thermal expansion, and have high thermal conductivity. By adding nanopowders, the material becomes denser, reducing porosity of manufactured ceramic goods.

In 2012 the world's market for technical ceramics was USD 57 billion and the Russian market, USD 483 million. Experts forecast average global market growth at 9 percent per year, while the Russian market will grow at twice that pace.

Today Russia imports more that 70 percent of its technical ceramics. High prices and lack of flexibility in supplies from abroad have held back the use of innovative ceramic materials in petrochemicals, electronics, and medicine. But once NEVZ-CERAMICS reaches design capacity in 2016, this joint project of NEVZ-Soyuz and RUSNANO will reduce the country's imports by 10 percent. The portfolio company can expect earnings of 2.5 billion rubles per year. Already NEVZ-CERAMICS has accomplished a great deal:

Organized serial production of goods from structural nanostructured ceramics for industrial customers engaged in energy (including nuclear energy), electronics, electrical and mechanical engineering, chemicals, and the petrochemical field

Achieved import-replacement-grade ceramic production by reaching global quality standards at lower purchase prices

Made it possible for domestic manufacturers to more easily acquire innovative ceramic structural materials for a variety of industrial sectors, including ceramics for lighting technology (ceramics for LEDs)

Made orthopedic operations for treatment of illnesses and traumas in Russia more broadly available

The nanostructured armored ceramics coming off production lines at the NEVZ-CERAMICS complex have passed extensive testing in Russia and abroad. The ceramic armor will be used in bullet-proof vests, protective equipment, and other items for defense. NEVZ-CERAMICS produces goods that weigh significantly less than traditional gear while exceeding them in effectiveness.

At the Novosibirsk Scientific and Research Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics, surgeons have already performed operations using implants made from the nanoceramics manufactured by NEVZ-CERAMICS. The company will begin Russia's first production of endoprosthetics in late 2014. Initially, it plans annual production of 10,000 to 15,000 implants-notably intervertebral discs and hip joints.

“Global and Russian experience has shown that applications for functional ceramics, materials used for electronics and electrical engineering, are broadening with every passing year. Using nanotechnology in ceramic production opens many growth opportunities, scientific and engineering advances in numerous sectors of the economy,” said Victor Medvedko, general director, NEVZ-Soyuz.

In addition to having its own R&D center, NEVZ-CERAMICS has chosen to collaborate with leading European research centers: the Institute of Ceramics and Glass and Neoker, S.L. in Spain, the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems in Germany, the Institute of Science and Technology for Ceramics in Italy, and others. It has also carried out joint work with a number of important organizations within the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, state educational institutions in Siberia that are developing new types of ceramic and nanostructured ceramic goods, and affiliates of Siberian Ceramics.The company is working closely with the Novosibirsk Scientific and Research Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics and private company Innovative Medico-Technology Center to develop and test medical goods. NEVZ-CERAMICS and the Institute of Solid State Physics, RAS, are studying production technology for zirconium dioxide-based ceramics that could be used in solid oxide fuel cells.

“It is strange to acknowledge that Russia has been almost entirely dependent on imports of ceramics, a material so essential to the existence and development of most high-tech sectors that its absence would put these areas beyond reach. Therefore, it is tremendously gratifying that our portfolio company is helping to close the gap with developed countries. The project is noteworthy as well because it is rooted in advances made by Russian scientists from Novosibirsk, a region that has been and continues to be among leaders in new technologies thanks to a very strong scientific base and modern production approaches,” noted RUSNANO managing director Dmitry Lisenkov.