Instytut Metalurgii i Inżynierii Materiałowej PAN
The Aleksander Krupkowski Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IMIM PAN), based in Kraków (ul. W. Reymonta 25), is a PAN research institute working in metallurgy and materials engineering. Its origins go back to 1952, when the Metals Department of the PAN Institute of Fundamental Technological Research was set up in Kraków under Professor Aleksander Krupkowski, using the premises of the Chair of Non-Ferrous Metals at the AGH University. The unit later operated as the PAN Department of Fundamentals of Metallurgy and the PAN Institute of Fundamentals of Metallurgy, and has borne its present name since 1994.
Research is carried out by seven laboratories – theory of metallurgical processes, physical chemistry of materials, functional and structural materials, surface engineering and biomaterials, anisotropic structures, plastic deformation of metals and layered materials – as well as the Photovoltaic Laboratory. Topics include lead-free solders, the thermodynamic and physicochemical properties of alloys, CALPHAD phase-diagram calculations, 2000 and 6000 series aluminium alloys, intermetallic phases, texture transformations in aluminium alloy sheet and severe plastic deformation. The Research Laboratories Team, with accredited laboratories, performs mechanical testing, electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and spectral chemical analysis, among others, for universities and industry. The institute publishes the quarterly “Archives of Metallurgy and Materials” and co-founded the Kraków Interdisciplinary Doctoral School.
The institute’s link with non-ferrous metals is both historical and scientific: the Metals Department worked on extracting metals from ores by pyrometallurgical, electrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical methods, on heat treatment and on metal forming, and close cooperation with industry and sectoral institutes, including the Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals, was one of its priorities. Today the institute studies light-metal alloys, solders and zinc- and magnesium-based materials, among other topics, develops the SURDAT database of physicochemical properties of metals and alloys, and provides testing services to companies. As an IGMNiR member, IMIM PAN represents the scientific base of non-ferrous metallurgy and materials engineering.