TalTech is seeking partners for Topic 3 – Timber and Innovative Wood-Based Products, with a specific interest in recycling and upcycling forest- and wood-industry residues and side streams into high-value engineering materials.

Our cooperation interests focus on three interconnected research directions:
1. Processing and upcycling of secondary raw materials
We are interested in processing forest- and wood-derived residues through size reduction, mixing, mechanical activation, selective liberation and separation. A particular capability is our High-Intensity Impact Milling (HIIM) technology, where high-velocity impacts enable efficient processing of difficult-to-process materials. HIIM can operate in direct, selective and separative modes and be integrated with classification and separation. This enables selective liberation and recovery of useful fractions instead of unnecessary fine grinding, reducing energy demand and facilitating subsequent recycling. Recovered fractions can be further processed and combined with other secondary or conventional raw materials to produce feedstocks for new composites.

2. Development of wear-resistant and cutting materials
Our group has several decades of experience in developing and manufacturing wear-resistant and cutting materials, with particular expertise in tungsten- and cobalt-free alternatives to conventional hardmetals. We develop materials combining high wear and corrosion resistance with reliable performance at elevated temperatures. We are interested in new CRM-free or CRM-reduced materials, including recycled and secondary raw materials where appropriate. Our capabilities include powder processing, mixing, mechanical activation, sintering, coatings and surface engineering.

3. Tribology, wear testing and performance validation
We have extensive expertise in friction, wear, erosion and durability assessment using standardised methods, allowing newly developed materials to be benchmarked against conventional references. We also design application-specific wear tests and experimental methodologies reproducing particular degradation mechanisms and operating conditions, and can develop new test procedures where existing standards are insufficient.
Our capabilities include abrasive, sliding and impact wear, particle and slurry erosion, fretting, surface fatigue, abrasion-oxidation and tribocorrosion, including elevated-temperature and controlled-environment testing. These are complemented by mechanical, microstructural and surface characterisation.
TalTech can contribute through secondary-material processing and activation, development and manufacturing of wear-resistant and CRM-free/CRM-reduced materials, and tribological performance validation from standardised testing to development of new application-specific test methodologies.

Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), Estonia, has long-standing expertise in materials engineering, recycling, powder metallurgy, wear-resistant materials and tribology. Our multidisciplinary research infrastructure covers the complete chain from secondary-material processing and material development to manufacturing, characterisation and performance validation.

Materials recycling and processing. TalTech has extensive experience in mechanical recycling and processing of complex and difficult-to-process materials, including composites, metals, ceramics, polymers and multicomponent waste streams. A particular expertise is High-Intensity Impact Milling (HIIM) and integrated milling-separation technologies. HIIM can be used for size reduction, mechanical activation, mixing and selective liberation of material components, and can be combined with classification and separation to recover useful fractions. The technology has been applied to a wide variety of waste materials, including wood–aluminium waste, fibre-reinforced composites, electronic waste, hardmetals, textiles and metallurgical residues.

Wear-resistant materials. Our group has several decades of experience in the development and manufacturing of wear-resistant composites and cutting materials. Particular expertise includes tungsten- and cobalt-free alternatives to conventional hardmetals, CRM-free/CRM-reduced materials, corrosion-resistant materials and materials for elevated-temperature applications. Available processing routes include powder preparation and mixing, mechanical activation, sintering, and coating/surface-engineering technologies.

Tribology and materials characterisation. TalTech has extensive facilities for standardised and application-specific evaluation of friction, wear, erosion and durability. Capabilities include abrasive, sliding and impact wear, particle and slurry erosion, fretting, surface fatigue, abrasion-oxidation and tribocorrosion, including testing at elevated temperatures and in controlled environments. In addition to standard test methods, we develop customised testing methodologies and test configurations for specific materials, components and operating conditions.

These capabilities are supported by mechanical testing, microscopy, SEM/EDS, surface and microstructural analysis and 2D/3D profilometry, enabling relationships between processing, composition, microstructure, degradation mechanisms and material performance to be established.