The Institute of Materials Research of SAS of today originated as the Laboratory of mechanical and metallurgical technology SAS at the Technical University in Košice, which was founded in 1955. In 1970 it became the independent institute of the Slovak academy of sciences as the Institute of experimental metallurgy. Originally at the institute, matters of research and development in the area of powder metallurgy and rolled low alloyed steels were resolved. Over time, focus became oriented on the research and development of progressive materials. Reflecting this development was the change of the name of the institute in the year 1992 into the Institute of Materials Research of the Slovak academy of sciences (IMR SAS). In 2015 the institute, as one of the main partners of the consortium for building the scientific center PROMATECH, obtained further premises and modern scientific research equipment in the new building Pavilion of material sciences.
The main research activities of the institute are included within areas such as modern steels, advanced methods and materials of powder metallurgy, modern construction and functional ceramics, nanostructure materials, hybrid metal-ceramic and metal-polymer materials, as well as modern biomaterials.
Currently, IMR SAS is one of the leading scientific institutes in Slovakia with good international cooperation. It is involved in a number of national and international projects, and partly due to this, is very well equipped with instruments.
IMR SAS is a noteworthy institution of scientific training, where it closely cooperates with an entire range of Slovak universities (Technical University of Košice, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (STU), etc.) at all levels, from the joint instruction of subjects up to the supervision of bachelor`s and diploma work, all the way to doctoral study.
IMR SAS has very active and fruitful cooperation with scientific, academic and industrial partners both at home and abroad, and is firmly established in the world community of material sciences as a reputable and prestigious institute.
In the field of acquiring, processing and propagating information from the area of science and technology and knowledge from its own research and development of the organization, the institute issues the journal POWDER METALLURGY PROGRESS: Journal of Science and Technology of Particle Materials (ISSN 1339-4533), which is from the year 2018 indexed in the database SCOPUS.