Materials

Archaeometallurgy is crucial for understanding India's rich metallurgical history, especially wootz steel. Analyzing artifacts like the Kondapalli sword reveals sophisticated ancient manufacturing processes, including crucible melting and lamination, and how material properties are tailored, like the hardness of sword blades. India's innovations, like Wootz steel (1-2% C), influenced global metalworking. Studying slag and elemental compositions illuminates early iron production (e.g., bloomery process) and raw materials. These investigations highlight the advanced skills of ancient Indian metallurgists and connect technological advancements with cultural and historical contexts, enriching our understanding of civilization.

Manufacturing of steel car bodies has evolved significantly since the 1960s, transitioning from mild steel to advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) for improved crash safety and fuel efficiency. However, the complexity of using multiple steel grades poses challenges in joining, processing, and recycling. This research introduces a novel concept: using a single compositional (unified) steel for body-in-white (BIW) manufacturing. By leveraging phase transformations through controlled alloying and thermomechanical processing, a single steel composition can achieve diverse mechanical properties, simplifying production while maintaining strength, toughness, and sustainability.

Copper is widely used in electrical applications, requiring alloys with both high strength and conductivity. However, the strength-conductivity paradox remains a major challenge, as traditional strengthening methods degrade conductivity. Current strategies, like gradient and bimodal structures, offer compromises rather than true solutions. Inspired by nature, our approach optimizes ultrafine-grained (UFG) structures along the wire axis, potentially enhancing both strength and conductivity simultaneously.