Ali Erdemir

Who is Ali Erdemir?

Ali Erdemir, born in Kadirli, Adana, Turkey, is a Turkish materials scientist specializing in surface engineering and tribology.

He graduated from the Metallurgy Department of the Istanbul Technical University in 1977. After working for two years at the İskenderun Iron and Steel Company in Turkey as an engineer, he went to the USA for doctoral studies. Erdemir received a master's degree in materials engineering and a doctorate in materials science and engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1982 and 1986, respectively. After completing his military service in Turkey, Erdemir began in 1987 to work as an assistant metallurgist at the Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, which is operated by the University of Chicago for the U.S. Department of Energy. Since 1990, he is conducting his research as a materials scientist.

Erdemir has broken one of the technological records of the century by conducting friction tests on a new ultra-hard, low-friction coating. The material is many times slicker than Teflon and hard enough to show promise for use in automobile engine parts.