Research Laboratory-Industry Interactions for Production of Speciality Wrought Aluminium Alloys

About the Monograph:
By virtue of several decades of fundamental and applied research carried out on a variety of wrought aluminium alloys, the Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), Hyderabad has developed a comprehensive understanding of the microstructure-property relationships in these alloys. This Monograph discusses first the fundamental basis of aluminium alloy design with emphasis on the role of major and minor alloying elements, the influence of impurities, and the effects of variations in thermo-mechanical processes and heat treatment tempers on the development of microstructure and desired engineering properties in such alloys.  
The Monograph describes next the efforts and achievements made by DMRL on the technology development and the industrial scale production of lithium-free speciality wrought aluminium alloys using the existing infrastructure in the country for crucial defence applications. Such applications include areas of armament, ammunition, missile, naval vessel, infantry combat vehicle, indigenously built fighter aircraft, military bridge, etc. During the course of the indigenisation programs, the crucial metallurgical solutions to the production-related issues were provided by DMRL. It follows that the lack of technological knowhow and not necessarily the lack of infrastructure had earlier prevented the production of these alloys in the country.
To realise self-reliance, the basic requirement is to have appropriate infrastructure in the industries. The last chapter of this Monograph catalogues the major investments made by private and government agencies during the last two decades and outlines areas of opportunity to improve and create optimal infrastructure to provide a complete solution to the manufacture of speciality wrought aluminium alloys in required semi-product forms.

About the Author
Dr AK Mukhopadhyay obtained a PhD in Physical and Process Metallurgy from the Department of Materials, Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, UK in 1988. He was an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA before joining DMRL, Hyderabad as Scientist ‘C’ in 1992. He rose to the position of OS/Scientist ‘H’ in 2014 and superannuated from DMRL in February, 2019.
He has been working exclusively on aluminium alloy research, design, development and industrial scale production of specialty wrought aluminium alloys for more than four decades. He featured among top 2 % of most-cited world scientists on a list prepared and published by Stanford university, USA in 2020.
He utilised his research aptitude and patented technologies for the development and indigenisation of aluminium alloys for crucial defence applications such as BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, naval warship, military bridging system, anti-tank ammunition, futuristic infantry combat vehicle, and several DRDO missiles such as Akash, Astra, NGARM, etc. The nation has achieved self-reliance in these specific areas because of his work. He further contributed towards the selection and quality control norms of indigenised aluminium alloys for ISRO’s space programmes.
He was awarded VASVIK Industrial Research Award, DRDO Technology Leadership Award, SAME Lifetime Achievement Award, BrahMos Best Innovation Award, DRDO Agni Award for excellence in self-reliance, Metallurgist of the Year Award by Government of India and MRSI Medal. He is a fellow of National Academy of Engineering; ASM International, USA; Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, UK and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany. He is a member of Editorial Board, Materials Science and Engineering A, and Board of Review, Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A. Dr Mukhopadhyay is currently an Advisor to the Hindalco Industries Limited, Mumbai.