KC75-International Conference on Innovative Materials Research  (KC75:IC-IMR)

Prof KC and his Inspiring Journey:

 Kamanio Chattopadhyay completed his Master of Science (Eng.) at the Department of Metallurgy, Banaras Hindu University, India, 1973 and obtained his PhD from the same university in 1978. He has been a lecturer at the same university since 1976. In 1983, he joined the Department of Metallurgy (later renamed the Department of Materials Engineering)of the Indian Institute of Science. In 2000, he was appointed Chairman of the Material Research Centre, and in 2004, he was appointed Chairman of the Department of Materials Engineering at the same institute. He was the Dean of Engineering (Mechanical Sciences) of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) from 2009 till his superannuation in 2015. In 2016, he was appointed The Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) Distinguished Professor and, in 2019, Distinguished Fellow of the Indian Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), which is awarded to a maximum of only 20 people in India at a time. In 2023, he was awarded the Indian SERB National Science Chair. It is awarded to a maximum of five people at a time, and only three engineers in India, including him, have this distinction.

The first major contribution of Professor Chattopadhyay is in the field of Quasicrystal. He pioneered, along with his colleagues, the discovery of a new class of 3D crystal with two-dimensional quasiperiodic atomic arrangement having a decagonal symmetry (Decagonal Quasicrystal) and followed it up with the discovery of one-dimensional quasiperiodic order.  The other contribution in this field includes the relationship between quasicrystals and their crystal approximants, short-range order in quasicrystalline structures and his contributions to the understanding of quasicrystals. He is also known for his pioneering work on embedded nanocrystal and their unique properties like superheating ahead of the current trend in nanocrystal research. He succeeded in synthesizing free nanoparticles by cryomilling and developed an e-waste recovery technique using this technology. His work on phase selection in laser cladding and bonding of dissimilar metals predates current activities in additive manufacturing and highlights the effects of complex chemical gradients at the growth interface during processing. His work in the last fifteen years concerned alloy development and has yielded new knowledge in three distinct directions. The first one is the development of tungsten-free cobalt-based gamma/gamma prime lightweight alloys that have attracted significant public attention. He has also introduced ordered precipitates and segregation of heavy elements at the interface of strengthening precipitate interfaces of aluminium and copper alloys that give enhanced stability and coarsening resistance and, hence, ideal for high-strength alloy development. He also has a current interest in developing a new class of thermoelectric materials and the issues with the stability of contacts in thermoelectrical devices.

　Professor Chattopadhyay had held visiting professorships at Carnegie Mellon University, Tohoku University, Kyoto University, and Kumamoto University, as well as visiting positions at research institutions around the world, including Oxford and Cambridge Universities in the UK, Clausthal University and KFA in Karlsruhein Germany, Institute of Materials Research in China and the University of Illinois at Urbana -Champaign in USA. He has chaired several international committees, including the Committee on Rapidly Quenched and Metastable Materials (RQ), the International Committee on Nanostructured Materials, and the International Committee on Quasicrystals, and was a member of the international committee of MRS, USA. In 2023, he was awarded the distinguished fellow by the RQ committee. Professor Chattopadhyay was a former editor of the Journal of Materials Science, published by Springer, and guest editor of the International Journal 'Of Materials Science and Engineering' published by Elsevier. A past president of the Indian Institute of Metals, he was a member of the award committee of TMS, USA, and currently a member of the Executive Committee of the International Society of Microscopy, a member of the UNESCO International Council for Science.