SPbPU and MAI Conclude Joint Winter School Program

Today the closing of the joint winter school of SPbPU — MAI took place. Having successfully started the course «Polymer Composite Materials and Additive Technologies» on January 24 at the Moscow Aviation Institute, the students of the North-West Polytechnic University of China continued their studies at Polytechnic University.

Dmitry Arseniev, Vice-Rector for International Relations of SPbPU, emphasized the importance of implementing such projects: The joint SPbPU — MAI winter school is an excellent example of how, by combining their experience, leading universities provide relevant knowledge and create a unique educational product that is in great demand among both foreign and Russian students.

One of the main tasks in mechanical engineering is to reduce the cost of manufacturing parts while maintaining the level of required mechanical and technological properties. Structural parts are traditionally produced by casting, milling, welding, rolling and stamping methods. In the case of production of critical components, the requirements to the quality of the manufacturing process increase, often the most critical components are made of expensive materials. Milling parts from all-metal molds leads to excessive material consumption, and the cost of milled parts from expensive alloys increases not so much due to the price of equipment as due to the cost of metal cut into chips.

An alternative method of producing parts is additive manufacturing, which is being used more and more frequently in a wide variety of industries. Traditional additive technologies utilize powder materials as a consumable. Therefore, in the course, winter school participants learned about the production methods and characteristics of powder materials and reviewed various technologies for additive manufacturing from powder materials. The course also introduced the technology of electric arc growth of metal parts from wire.

I gained a lot of fundamental knowledge such as material classification, definition, their advantages and disadvantages, applications and perspectives. In these courses, we not only felt the impressive knowledge base of the instructors, but also imbibed their humor and fun. This made our classes both serious and lively, Winter School participant Cao Minyan told us.

Anton Naumov, the head of the program, Associate Professor of the Graduate School of Physics and Materials Technologies of SPbPU, summed up the results of the course: The joint international winter school ‘Polymer Composite Materials and Additive Technologies’, which is a unique example of fruitful cooperation between two authoritative Russian universities, has come to an end. The first intake of applicants to our school was more than 20 foreign students, which is a serious proof of the demand for the prepared program, because it is at the junction of fundamental and applied research. We can say with confidence that our joint first experience of the Winter School was successful! We are waiting for new young scientists for our next joint schools!

The students from China also had a rich cultural program in St. Petersburg. They visited the Hermitage and visited the Erarta Museum of Modern Art. They went to Pushkin and walked around the winter city.

In our free time we explored St. Petersburg. Unlike Moscow, St. Petersburg is more like an elegant and fashionable aristocratic lady, which always shows us its deep historical basis. At the Winter Palace we felt its majesty, and at the art exhibition we were struck by the modern art. I think we have only seen a part of the city, and perhaps we will come here again to study. Thank you to every teacher who taught us, to every staff member who helped us. Thank you to Polytechnic for giving us such a valuable opportunity, shared Yang Hongli, Project Manager, Office of International Cooperation, Northwestern Polytechnic University.