ABSTRACT
More than forty years have passed since the discovery of SHS and this is not a short term for the technology of the 21st century. We may recall that the first personal computer (Xerox Alto) was produced and the first cell phone (Dyna-Tac by Motorola) was tested in 1973. Developments in the field of materials science are not as rapid as in information technology, but the question of why the SHS method has not yet found the widespread use on the industrial scale is often debated and it is not easy to answer. There is no doubt that a certain role has been played by objective reasons, such as the liquidation of inter-branch scientific-technical complexes (ISTC), caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union. Among these complexes was the ISTC Thermosynthesis, which quite successfully solved the problems of industrial application of the SHS method. The ISTC was abolished; dozens of industrial sites and even entire plants were closed. The interest of the industry to high-end technologies, which do not provide a quick profit, rapidly decreased. However, this does not relate only to the SHS-technologies. It is important to analyze and understand what features and unresolved problems of
the combustion synthesis of materials inhibit its use in industry and limit it access to world markets.
