The Master’s thesis of student Tomáš Heller placed second in the competition organized by Zvoníček Foundation, which awards the best graduate theses of the past academic year.
The thesis titled “NiTi shape memory alloy produced by cold kinetic spray” was carried out at
the Institute of Plasma Physics of the CAS under the supervision of Jan Čížek from the Department
of Materials Engineering. In September, Tomáš started his PhD study, continuing his cold spray
research at our institute.
The work presents a feasibility study for producing NiTi alloy deposits using cold spray
technology as the first step towards future 3D printing of this important material. Additive
manufacturing of NiTi alloy is extremely challenging and has not been successfully carried out so
far. Tomáš’ thesis shows that cold spray technology can produce thick NiTi deposits with high
quality microstructure and low porosity - all while preserving two critical properties, its phase
and chemical composition, an Achilles’ heel of the previous attempts.
6 Nov 2025
