Professor Aloke Paul, IISc

Group of Diffusion-Microstructure-Properties

Dr. Aloke Paul, Professor ( Biography)

Dept. of Materials Engineering,

Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India 560012

Email: aloke[at]iisc.ac.in Ph: (91)-080-2293-3242

One of the noted scientists and author of the popular book on Thermodynamics R.T. DeHoff, commented in the year 2002

"The trouble with diffusion is that after more than half a century of experimental and theoretical investigation by some of the best minds in the material science field, the prediction of the results of the operation of this crucial process remains based upon the phenomenological formalism which defines diffusivities that (i) require significant experimental investment for their evaluation and are (ii) experimentally inaccessible for systems with more than three components." [Ref. The trouble with diffusion, Materials Research 5 (2002) 209-229].

We have solved the unsolved problem of the last several decades in multicomponent diffusion, which was previously considered impossible. These methods offer significant benefits in terms of reduced effort and can be applied in systems with any number of elements. These are used in various multicomponent systems, such as Nickel- and Cobalt-based superalloys, Fe-based alloys (steel), complex concentrated (High-Entropy) alloys, and high-temperature coatings in jet engines and power sectors.

Latest Publication update: Response to the comment on "Practicing pseudo-binary diffusion couple method in ternary and multicomponent systems" Scripta Materialia 273 (2026) 117090 Free download link.

This is our response to the comment article on our recent work on the PB diffusion couple method in ternary and multicomponent systems. The editors of the journal acknowledged their mistake, as a comment article is typically published alongside the response article, which they had overlooked.

Outcome on developing methods in multicomponent diffusion from the group:

News and Updates

Aloke Paul received the J.C. Bose grant (ANRF) 2025.
Ankur Srivastava received the Larry Kaufman Scholarship from CALPHAD, 2025.
Ankur Srivastava won the best oral presentation in the Annual Student Symposium, Department of Materials Engineering, IISc, 2025.
Anuj Dash joined IIT Bhubaneswar as an Assistant Professor in the School of Minerals, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering (2024).
Is it possible to estimate all types, i.e. tracer, intrinsic and interdiffusion coefficients from a single diffusion couple in a multi-component system? This is indeed possible following a relatively straightforward method Article 1 and Article 2 (2024).
The textbook "Thermodynamics, Diffusion and the Kirkendall Effect" is rated as one of the top books written by a IISc professor published during the last decade by Publisher Springer-Nature (2024)
Surajit Basak won the Best MTech Thesis Project award in the Department of 2023.
Anuj Dash won the best oral presentation award at the students' symposium in the Department of Materials Engineering in 2023.
Anuj Dash has proposed an innovative but simple design strategy of diffusion couples by intersecting dissimilar diffusion paths in multicomponent space to estimate diffusion coefficients, which was considered impossible (2023).
Aloke Paul is inducted as a fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (2023)
N. Esakkiraja won the first Graeme Murch Award for his Ph.D. thesis outcome recognizing outstanding achievements in diffusion research declared during the conference Diffusion in Solids and Liquids (DSL), Florence 2022. Currently, he is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Münster, Germany
Aloke Paul is conferred with Distinguished Alumnus Award, 2021 by NIT, Durgapur.
N. Esakkiraja won the Prof. K.P. Abraham medal for the best PhD thesis in the Department of Materials Engineering, 2021.
Suman Sadhu (PhD Student) is selected for the Prime Minister's Research Fellows (PMRF) Scheme, 2021.
A joint work by Anuj Dash and N. Esakkiraja on estimation of tracer diffusion coefficients by pseudo-binary and pseudo-ternary methods (Article 1, Article 2), which was presented by Esakkiraja won the "Best Young Scientist award" during Diffusion in Materials (DIMAT) 2021 Hungary conference. This is the main conference in this field.
Aloke Paul is elected as the fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, 2020
Ujjval Bansal (PhD student) won the best oral presentation award in NMD-ATM, 2019.
Avik Mondal (PhD External: Tata Steel) won Young Metallurgist of the year award, 2019, Ministry of Steel, Government of India.
Varun Baheti joined IIT, Roorkee as assistant professor in the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, 2019.
Sangeeta Santra joined IIT, Delhi as assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 2019.
N. Esakkiraja (PhD student) is invited as one of the very few speakers at the Gordon Research Conference (GRC), USA, 2019.
N. Esakkiraja (PhD student) delivered an invited talk on diffusion in concentrated high entropy alloys at the 15th international conference on Diffusion in Solids and Liquids (DSL), Athens, Greece, 2019.
N. Esakkiraja won the best oral presentation, Ujjval Bansal and Muni Kumar (PhD students) won the best and runner up prizes for their SEM micrographs at 31st Students symposium, 2018.
Varun A. Baheti (PhD student) received the James Clerk Maxwell prize for his publication in Philosophical Magazine, 2017. (Link to the article).
Aloke Paul received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in Engineering Sciences category, 2017, the highest award conferred by the Government of India (Video link). Listed in Asian Scientist 100, 2018 Edition in Materials Science Category.
Varun Baheti (PhD student) won the Best Presentation Award at 19th International Conference on Electronic Packaging, Systems and Technology, London (UK), 2017.
Sangeeta Santra (PhD student) received the prestigious Royal Newtonian International Fellowship for her postdoctoral position at the Oxford University, UK.