Indian Metallurgy : The Platinum Years

The book marks the Platinum Jubilee of the Indian Institute of Metals, closely matching independent India's age. It is envisaged as a compilation of technical articles tracing the birth and growth trajectory of metallurgical science, engineering and technology in the nation, attempting a degree of prognostication covering the next quarter of a century. It contains the essence of the metallurgical research and development and industrial progress India has witnessed in the last 75 years. This book comprises technical articles written by industry leaders and eminent technocrats. It includes overviews by distinguished researchers who have strived to build foundations of new metallurgical research and engineering fields. It includes learned writings of persons associated with premier institutions heavily dependent on metallurgy and materials. They have made seminal contributions by nurturing the growth of metallurgical research and industrial production or have made first-hand contributions to building the great organisations we have today. Coinciding with the Platinum Jubilee year of the Indian Institute of Metals, this book brings out the enormous efforts of these individuals representing their organisations to share insights that led to their success as an entity. Similarly, several professionals who significantly contributed to the understanding of metallurgical engineering, have held important positions and steered the national strategic programmes or academically nurtured students in their illustrious careers also share their journey in this book. This book chronicles the significant advances made in the field of metallurgical science, engineering and technology in India, presenting the historical perspective and prospects in the format of a technical volume.

Dr. Divakar Ramachandran joined the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) at Kalpakkam in 1989 with a Bachelor’s degree in Metallurgy and subsequently earned Ph.D. degree in 2001, both  from Indian Institute of Science. He specialised in the applications of electron microscopy to physical metallurgical studies, and established electron optical techniques for post-irradiation examination at IGCAR. During 2007-09, he worked as a post-doctoral associate at the University of Minnesota, USA. Dr. Divakar presently leads metallurgy and materials science activities at IGCAR on projects for development of new materials and related fabrication and inspection technologies in support of fast reactor technology and Indian Advanced Supercritical power plants, and accelerator-based materials science studies. He is a Fellow of Electron Microscope Society of India (2016) and is a recipient of Metallurgist of the Year Award in Metal Science Category from the Ministry of Steel, Government of India (2018). Dr. Divakar also contributes to academic programmes of Homi Bhabha National Institute and is a Life Member of Indian Institute of Metals.  

S.V.S. Narayana Murty has received his B.E. from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, M.E. from IISc Bangalore, and Ph.D. from IIT Bombay (2003), specialising in metallurgical engineering. He joined the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Trivandrum, in 1993. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the National Institute for Materials Science, Japan (2003-2006). Presently, he works as General Manager of Material Development and Production Group at Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, Trivandrum. He is a recipient of Young Metallurgist Award (2001) and Metallurgist of the Year Award (2018), both from Ministry of Steel, Government of India. He was a member of ISRO Team Excellence Award for ‘Indigenization of Copper alloy Cu-Cr-Ti-Zr thrust chamber of cryogenic and semi-cryogenic engines’ (2012). He received the AIDA Technology Innovation Award by Japan Society for Technology of Plasticity (2009) for development of ultrafine grained steels. He was awarded the G.D. Birla Gold Medal (2022) by the Indian Institute of Metals. 

Dr. Gokhale completed his B.Tech. in Metallurgical Engineering from IIT Bombay in 1978 and M.S. and Ph.D. in Metallurgical Engineering from University of Pittsburgh, USA, in 1980 and 1985, respectively. He served in the Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), Hyderabad (DRDO), from 1985 to 2015 in various capacities, such as Head of the Light Alloy Casting Group, Solidification Technology Division, Extraction Technology Division and finally as Distinguished Scientist and Director of the Laboratory. At DMRL, he led research on aluminium lithium alloys for aerospace applications, aluminium alloy components for torpedoes, crash resistant aluminium foams, additive manufacturing of Ni-based superalloys and very high-temperature materials for hypersonic vehicles. He steered afew major technology transfer initiatives in critical materials on behalf of the Laboratory. He was a director on the board of the Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd., Hyderabad. 

Dr. S. Srikanth is a highly accomplished scientist and engineer with a distinguished career in the field of metallurgy. Dr. Srikanth obtained his B.Sc. (Engg.) in Metallurgy from Regional Engineering College, Rourkela, India, in 1982 and continued his education at the prestigious IISc Bangalore, where he earned his M.E. in Metallurgy in 1984 and completed his Ph.D. in Metallurgy in 1990, on the thermodynamics of alloys. Subsequently, he embarked on a post-doctoral fellowship at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, where he explored the field of material science and engineering and further worked as Visiting Scientist at the University of Leeds, UK, and the Institute of Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague. In 1990, Dr. Srikanth joined the National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML) in Jamshedpur, India, as Scientist C, rising to the position of Director, CSIR-NML, by 2010. Over the years, he made significant contributions to the field of metallurgy, specialising in thermodynamics and kinetic modelling of metallurgical processes.