Simone Failla

Background

About Simone Failla

Since January 2015 I have been involved in the study of ultra-high temperature ceramic materials (UHTC) as a research grant at the Institute of Science and Technology of Ceramic Materials (CNR-ISTEC) in Faenza. During this period I was able to appreciate the interdisciplinary nature of materials science: the transversal approach through analytical and industrial chemistry, physics and engineering, and the different levels of research: from theoretical speculation to the scientific approach. I therefore chose to undertake a Ph.D in material science, University of Parma, and continue research activities at ISTEC-CNR as an associate. My work starts from the design of the materials, the structural investigation, the elucidation of the structure-function relationship, the understanding of the chemical-physical characteristics of the materials obtained, the development of innovative process technologies, up to the scale up of the materials and to their effective integration into functional systems and devices. In particular I deal with ceramic materials characterized by high hardness and / or high toughness with complex shape also reinforced with carbon fibers and ceramics, which can be produced by sintering, with or without pressure. I specialized in the use of large sintering facilities such as uniaxial hot pressing with fast induction heating and gas pressure sintering (GPS) up to During last year of my Ph.D, I did a period of training abroad in China, at the laboratories of the "Southwest Jiaotong University" in Chengdu. The activity focused first on the theoretical study and then on the practical first-person use of FAST sintering techniques using Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS), Flash-Spark Plasma Sintering (F-SPS) and Arc-melting of UHTC materials.