ON THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF VLADIMIR KONSTANTINOVICH AFANASYEV

On November 7, 2018, Professor of the Siberian State Industrial University (SibSIU), Honored Inventor of the Russian Federation, Honorary Metallurgist, Honorary Worker of Higher Professional Education of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Vladimir Konstantinovich Afanasyev turned 80.
V.K. Afanasyev is one of the famous scientists in the field of materials science. The main direction of Professor Afanasyev's scientific activity for more than fifty years has been the study of the patterns of formation of the structure and properties of metallic materials, taking into account the influence and determining role of interstitial elements - hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen. The main results of research in this area are:
- development of principles of rational alloying of metallic materials, allowing to reduce the content of traditional expensive alloying elements in alloys due to the justified introduction of interstitial elements;
– development of compositions of new materials based on iron and aluminum, containing hydrogen and nitrogen as full-fledged alloying elements and possessing a better set of properties compared to the existing ones;
– development of technologies for processing metal alloys, allowing to improve the properties of already existing materials and to obtain new materials with a unique combination of properties.
V.K. Afanasyev with his colleagues developed and protected by USSR copyright certificates and Russian Federation patents more than 50 compositions of aluminum alloys with a regulated coefficient of thermal expansion, as well as methods for their production and processing. Schemes of thermocyclic processing of low-carbon steel, providing a set of high physical and mechanical properties, were developed and recommended for practical application. A new mechanism for the formation of graphite precipitation in cast iron was proposed and confirmed by experimental studies. The concepts of graphite precipitation in cast iron as a type of hydrogen embrittlement were scientifically substantiated. A resource-saving technology for the production of cutting tools from white unalloyed cast iron has been developed and recommended for practical application.

V.K. Afanasyev was born on November 7, 1938 in the village of Ilovaisk, Donetsk region. In 1962, he graduated from the Siberian Metallurgical Institute named after Sergo Ordzhonikidze, specializing in "Metal Science, Equipment and Technology of Heat Treatment of Metals". In 1969, he defended his PhD dissertation on the topic "Metallographic study of the causes of spontaneous cracking of castings from high-strength aluminum alloys" and from 1969 to 1977 he worked as an associate professor in the Department of Metal Science at the Krasnoyarsk Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals. In 1977, he was elected to the position of head of the Department of Physics of Metals at the Siberian Metallurgical Institute and moved to Novokuznetsk. In 1989, V.K. Afanasyev defended his doctoral dissertation on "Improving the technological and service properties of aluminum alloys with regulated hydrogen content by improving their compositions and production technology" at the Belarusian Polytechnic Institute (Minsk). In 2003, he was awarded the honorary title of "Honored Inventor of the Russian Federation" for his active inventive work. V.K. Afanasyev worked as the head of the Department of Physics of Metals for 35 years. During this time, the department's staff trained more than six hundred engineers in the specialty "Physics of Metals". For many of them, Vladimir Konstantinovich was the supervisor of their diploma research work. The merits of Professor V.K. Afanasyev’s work in training highly qualified specialists for the country’s industry was recognized with the title of “Honorary Worker of Higher Professional Education of the Russian Federation” (2000), as well as the badge of “Honorary Professor of Kuzbass” (2008).

Currently, after the reorganization of the university departments, V.K. Afanasyev works as a professor-consultant of the Department of Materials Science, Foundry and Welding Production of SibGIU.
Professor V.K. Afanasyev has more than 700 scientific papers, including more than 150 author's certificates and patents for inventions, 10 monographs. Under his supervision, 18 candidate and four doctoral dissertations were defended. He is involved in scientific and organizational activities: he is a member of two dissertation councils D212.252.04 and D212.252.01, working on the basis of the Siberian State Industrial University, and also a member of the editorial board of the journal "Metallurgy of Mechanical Engineering" (Moscow).
Scientific developments of Professor V.K. Afanasyev's researches were awarded with diplomas and prizes at the International Exhibitions: "Manufacturing Indonesia - 2012", "ARCA - 2010" (Croatia), St. Petersburg Technical Fair - 2013. For his scientific development "Hydrogen Platform of the Periodic Table of Elements", which is the basis for the creation of progressive technologies for obtaining and processing new materials, he was awarded two Gold Medals of the international exhibitions IENA-2012 (Germany, Nuremberg) in the nomination "Invention / Novelty / New Product", as well as "Nano-tech-2016" (Japan, Tokyo); at the world exhibition INPEX-15 in Pittsburgh (USA) he received the Grand Prix, as well as gold and silver medals "For Outstanding Invention" from the Scientific Society of Kuwait in 2016. Afanasyev is a full member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. His merits are marked by the medal "For Service to Kuzbass", the Order "For Merit in Materials Science", numerous awards and certificates of the Kemerovo Region Administration.

The editors of the journal, colleagues and friends heartily congratulate Vladimir Konstantinovich on his anniversary and sincerely wish him many years of active and interesting life, good health and new scientific achievements.