Dr.Tech.Sci Honoured Scientist of the Russian Federation Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Engineering.
In recognition of his outstanding achievements in tribology, particularly as applied to brakes, clutches and transmission devices.
Professor Chichinadze was born in Georgia in 1921. After graduation in 1944 at the Moscow Electromechanical Railway Institute, he worked as a design engineer at a railway repair works and thereafter as a test engineer of brake devices for equipment employed by the aviation industry. In 1956 he joined the A.A. Blagonravov Institute of Mechanical Engineering of the USSR Academy of Sciences, rising from junior researcher to Head of the Laboratory of Frictional Properties of Materials. He is now Chief Scientist of the Laboratory of Complex Physical and Mechanical Research of this academic institute.
Professor Chichinadze has spent nearly 50 years studying frictional phenomena and problems, both as a scientist and as an engineer. His original Candidate and Doctorate theses on the problems of exterior friction, mainly as applied to brakes, clutches and transmission devices, have become internationally acknowledged.
His best known research work is connected with his development of the theory of heat dynamics and simulation of friction and wear of friction pairs in conditions of dry friction and of boundary lubrication. It is applied extensively in practical engineering in the design and testing of numerous frictional devices. Many modern types of brakes for Soviet aircraft, using a variety of friction pairs, have been designed and are tested according to Professor Chichinadze’s formulae, which are also widely used for motor cars, tractors, road-construction equipment, railway and agricultural machinery and for many other purposes.
Professor Chichinadze’s work in this sphere was included by the USSR Academy of Sciences in its list of “most important achievements in 1987-88” in use in the USSR and other countries.
He participated in the development, testing and implementation of manufacture of the first Soviet heat-resistant frictional polymer materials, which led to the savings of several millions of roubles. For this work, Professor Chichinadze was given first prizes awarded by the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Aircraft Engineering.
His research to replace rolling by sliding during aircraft take-offs and landings resulted in the creation of reliable and long-lasting ski and ski-wheeled aircraft landing gear for take-0ffs and landings on ground airfield. This work gained him another award from the USSR Academy of Sciences and the USSR Ministry of Aircraft Engineering.
Professor Chichinadze took a leading personal part in the development of the original tribo-testing equipment and research work in the USSR, patents for some of which were taken out in many countries including the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.
He is the author of more than 370 works (including 20 monographs and handbooks), some of which have been translated into other languages. In addition he is the originator of 32 inventions.
Professor Chichinadze has played a notable part in the education and encouragement of young engineers and scientists, not only in the USSR but also in other countries. He conducts lectures to his students in comprehensive courses on tribology and machine parts and also supervises postgraduate students work.
Professor Chichinadze is an energetic and active specialist. He has ensured and maintained the high scientific and engineering profile within senior Soviet institutes and bodies.
For many years he has been co-chairing the Co-ordination Council for Tribology of the USSR Association of Scientists and Engineers (SNIO), he has also been a Board Member and Chairman of the Section of Interdepartmental Scientific Council for Tribology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the USSR SNIO and the USSR State Committee of science and Engineering (GKNT), a member of the National Committee for Tribology of the USSR. In his capacity as the Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Engineering, he has been playing a leading role in all works on tribology in the field of machine design, the objective of these works being the reduction of power and material consumption and minimising the detrimental effect of friction and wear on the ecology. Professor Chichinadze has been working successfully on the editorial boards of a number of scientific and technical journals.
From his early days as a student to his present position of eminence, the whole of Professor Chichinadze’s life has been dedicated to solving problems connected with friction. The originality and importance of his work, the success in applying the result of his research into practice, and the promotion of tribology have been of great significance, nationally as well as internationally.
An outstanding Tribologist, a leader in his field, Professor Chichinadze is indeed a worthy recipient of Tribology’s greatest honour: The Tribology Gold Medal for 1991.