Volodymyr Zinoviyovych Turkevich, born in 1958, graduated from the Faculty of Heat and Power Engineering of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute with a degree in Thermal Physics (1981), Doctor of Chemical Sciences (1996), Deputy Director for Scientific Work of the V.M. Bakul Institute of Superhard Materials of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (1999), laureate of the I.M. Frantsevich Prize of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (1999), Deputy Academician of the Secretary of the Department of Physical and Technical Problems of Materials Science of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (2004), Director of the V.M. Bakul Institute of Superhard Materials of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (2015), Professor, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
Areas of scientific activity
Study of physicochemical aspects of the synthesis of superhard materials at high pressures and temperatures, research of thermodynamics and kinetics of spontaneous crystallization of diamond and cubic boron nitride at high pressures and temperatures, thermophysical instrument making.
ОMain scientific results that enriched the materials science of superhard materials and physical chemistry of high pressures:
- a high-temperature scanning calorimeter (up to 2000 K) and a high-pressure thermal analysis facility (up to 6 GPa) were developed (1981 – 1994), which have no analogues in the world in terms of maximum operating temperature; the measurement method and device designs are protected by copyright certificates;
- using the developed instruments, as well as shared scientific equipment (synchrotrons in Germany and Japan), the thermodynamic properties and phase equilibria were studied, thermodynamic analysis was performed and phase diagrams of 12 two-component and 7 three-component systems containing carbon were constructed under high pressure (1981-2007), as well as phase diagrams of 5 two- and three-component systems containing boron nitride (1990-2003); 12 of them were constructed under high pressure for the first time;
- the kinetics and mechanism of spontaneous crystallization of cubic boron nitride and diamond were studied in situ by the method of synchrotron radiation diffraction, the regularities of the formation of these superhard phases were established; a scientific concept of crystallization of diamond and cBN from fluid phases was developed (1997-2002);
- the conditions for the formation of superhard boron suboxide and subnitride under high pressure (2000-2008) were established, their properties were studied, the possibility of obtaining the studied stoichiometric compounds at pressures not exceeding 1 GPa was proven, a phase diagram of the B–N–O system was constructed at a pressure of 5 GPa;
- the conditions for the formation of magnesium diboride in the presence of oxygen were studied and a phase diagram of the Mg–B–O system was constructed at a pressure of 2 GPa;
- the temperature-pressure-concentration relationship of the crystallization of diamond, cubic boron nitride and magnesium diboride in a number of multicomponent systems was established from the phase diagrams, the kinetic laws of crystallization obtained in situ were used to optimize the technology for obtaining these materials.
V.Z. Turkevich is the author of more than 220 scientific publications (including 1 textbook, 5 monographs, 5 author’s certificates), 28 reports at international conferences. He is the Chairman of the Academic Council of the Institute of Superhard Materials and a member of the Specialized Academic Council for the Defense of Dissertations at the Institute of Superhard Materials of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the editor-in-chief of the journal “Superhard Materials”, works part-time as a professor at the Faculty of Engineering and Physics of the National Technical University of Ukraine (KPI), and performs the duties of the head of the department “Technologies of Synthesis and Sintering of Superhard Materials” of the Institute of Superhard Materials.