Nikulin Sergey Anatolievich

2000 — present: chair of the Department of Physical Metallurgy and Physics of Strength, NUST MISIS.

1996-2000: professor, MISIS.

1996: doctor of engineering, MISIS.

1988-1996: associate professor, MISIS.

1983-1988: assistant, MISIS.

1981-1983: junior researcher, MISIS.

1977: higher education, MISIS. Major: physics of metals. Specialty: metallurgical engineer.

S.A. Nikulin was the academic supervisor of projects and R&D in a number of priority areas of the federal target programs for scientific research and international contracts, economic agreements with enterprises, grants from the RFBR and the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation. In the last five years of his leadership, the department’s scientists have carried out and successfully completed large-scale projects to create new materials and technologies aimed at deliver urgent state assignment: technologies for thermal hardening of large-sized cast products for critical elements of the rolling stock of railway transport, which make it possible to increase their operational resource many-fold; creation of a fundamentally new multilayer material based on vanadium and corrosive steel alloys for fuel cladding of fast reactors for operation in a closed nuclear fuel cycle; creation of intelligent systems for monitoring facilities and technological processes by acoustic emission measurements; creation of new materials for medical use based on ultrafine-grained alloys.

Selected results

Experimental work on thermal hardening of the side frames of freight car bogies was carried out with the help of a developed and manufactured special installation using cooling by a fast-moving water flow. Technological modes of heating and cooling of the side frames were developed, which provide for a significant increase in their strength characteristics. Based on the studies and tests carried out, a set of regulatory and technical documentation was developed for a further work on the introduction of the technology of thermal hardening of the side frames. The proposed processing will be significantly more effective in terms of increasing a complex of mechanical properties of the side frames in comparison with normalization.

The structure and mechanical properties of low-carbon steels 22K and 09G2S for CC-vessels of new VVER were studied in a wide temperature range from room temperature to 1200 °C under the conditions simulating severe man-made accidents at nuclear power plants. Data were obtained on the embrittlement of the material of the CC-vessel under the conditions of lengthy thermal exposures (up to 170 hrs), simulating the cooling of the CC-vessel. The obtained unique experimental data on the mechanical properties and resistance to fracture of the material of the CC-vessel casing are necessary to substantiate a safe and reliable operation of new Russian nuclear reactors in different countries of the world, including in increased seismic activity areas.

The technology of deformation-heat treatment of three-layer pipes based on vanadium alloys and corrosion-resistant steels for new nuclear reactors was developed.

The phenomenon of hot work-hardening for economically alloyed tool die steel (RATE type) in the course of thermomechanical processing in the temperature range of 450–750 ºС was experimentally demonstrated. The modes of thermomechanical treatment were determined, which contribute to the stabilization of the hot-work-hardened state and provide for the most hardening of steel at high temperatures.

Scopus Hirsch Index — 11.

Number of articles on Scopus — 133.

SPIN RSCI: 3954- 7266.

ResearcherID: A-4234-2014.

Scopus AuthorID: 57221769267.

• Federal Target Program — State Contract No. 02.516.11.6135. Development of a method for obtaining clad samples of vanadium alloy pipes on the topic: “Creation of radiation-resistant alloys based on vanadium and development of methods for their production for cladding of fuel elements of fast neutron reactors and hydrogen power plants” (2007).
• Agreement No. 14.581.21.0009 on the provision of subsidy for “Development of scientific and technological foundations for strengthening and extending the service life of critical rolling stock elements to ensure the safety of Russian railways” (FTP “Research and development in priority areas of development of the scientific and technological complex of Russia for 2014-2020”) (2014-2016).
• Agreement with JSC Tyazhmash for the implementation of research work No. 039 / 19-503 dated April 9, 2019 on the topic “Experimental assessment of the degree of degradation of mechanical properties of the base metal and welded joints of the material carcass of melt containment device and the guide plate after various modes of heat treatment” (2019-2020).

• Stanislav O. Rogachev, Sergey A. Nikulin, Vladimir M. Khatkevich, Roman V. Sundeev, Alexander A. Komissarov. Features of Structure Formation in Layered Metallic Materials Processed by High Pressure Torsion // Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A.—2020.
• A.B. Rozhnov, V.I. Pantsyrny, A.V. Kraynev, S.O. Rogachev, S.A. Nikulin, N.E. Khlebova, M.V. Polikarpova, M.Yu. Zadorozhnyy. Low-cycle bending fatigue and electrical conductivity of high-strength Cu/Nb nanocomposite wires // International Journal of Fatigue.—2019.—V.128.—105188.
• S.O. Rogachev, S.A. Nikulin, V.M. Khatkevich, R.V. Sundeev, D.A. Kozlov. High-pressure torsion deformation process of a bronze/niobium composite // Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China.—2019.—V. 29.—P. 1689-1695.
• S.A. Nikulin, A.B. Rozhnov, A.Yu. Gusev, T.A. Nechaykina, S.O. Rogachev, M.Yu. Zadorozhnyy, Hanan Alsheikh. Effect of hydrogenation on the low-cycle fatigue of zirconium alloy // International Journal of Fatigue.—2018.—V. 111.—N. 3.—P. 1-6.
• A.A. Krugljakow, S.A. Nikulin, S.O. Rogachev, Hoan Xuan Nguyen, N.V. Lebedeva, G.A. Panova. Hot-hardening phenomenon in die steel during thermomechanical processing // Materials Letters.—2020.—V. 266.—P. 127475.
• S.O. Rogachev, V.M. Khatkevich, S.A. Nikulin, M.V. Ignateva, A.A. Gromov. High thermally stable multi-layer steel/vanadium alloy hybrid material obtained by high-pressure torsion // Materials Letters.—2019.—V. 255.—N. 126527.
• Stanislav O. Rogachev, Sergey A. Nikulin, Andrey B. Rozhnov, Mikhail V. Gorshenkov. Microstructure, Phase Composition, and Thermal Stability of Two Zirconium Alloys Subjected to High‐Pressure Torsion at Different Temperatures // Advanced Engineering Materials.—2018.

S.A. Nikulin, A.B. Rozhnov, V.M. Khatkevich, S.O. Rogachev, V.A. Belov, T.A. Nechaykina “Method of internal nitriding of ferritic corrosion-resistant steel” (Patent for invention RU 2522922).

Courses: “Engineer in the laboratory”, “Physical bases of deformation and fracture”, “Materials science and technologies of advanced materials”, “Reactor materials”, “Interdisciplinary issues of materials science”, “Construction materials”, “Metals science”, “Modern construction materials”, “Structure and manufacturability of alloys” and “Development of new materials”.

Chairman of the D-212.132.08 dissertation council at NUST MISIS.

Member of the editorial boards of the following journals: “Deformation and destruction of materials”, “Materials science”, “Izvestiya vuzov. Ferrous metallurgy”, “Inorganic materials: applied research”.

Chairman of the organizing committee of the Eurasian conference “Strength of heterogeneous structures”.

Member of the organizing committees of several Russian and international scientific and technical conferences.

Member of the scientific and technical council of TVEL Corporation; member of the scientific and technical council of Rosatom; member of the RAS council for metallurgy and materials science.

Chairman of the academic council of the Association “Materials and technologies of nuclear science and equipment”.