Group of Diffusion-Microstructure-Properties
Aloke Paul, Professor ( Biography)
Department of Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India 560012
Email: aloke[at]iisc.ac.in
Ph: (91)-080-2293-3242
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Various aspects of diffusion were established through the contributions of several distinguished scientists, including Nobel laureates. However, soon after the development of diffusion equations based on Lars Onsager’s Nobel Prize–winning theoretical framework, it became widely accepted by the 1940s that diffusion coefficients in systems with more than three components could not be reliably determined using the widely practiced diffusion couple method. This limitation led to a gradual decline in diffusion research, despite its critical role in controlling time-dependent degradation and the service life of multicomponent materials in high-temperature applications. 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 addressed this long-standing challenge in multicomponent diffusion by introducing an innovative design strategy for diffusion couples, along with corresponding equations and analytical frameworks tailored to such diffusion profiles. These methods significantly reduce experimental and computational effort and are applicable to systems with any number of components. They have been successfully employed in a wide range of multicomponent materials, including nickel- and cobalt-based superalloys, iron-based alloys (steels), complex concentrated (high-entropy) alloys, and high-temperature coatings used in jet engines and power generation systems.
Diffusion coefficients can be estimated at a few specific compositions following the experimental methods. Therefore, these are integrated with a Physics-Informed Neural Network-based numerical inverse method to generate a mobility database in multicomponent space (jointly guided students are trained for this by Prof. Saswata Bhattacharya, IIT Hyderabad).
Latest Publication update:
Outcome on developing methods in multicomponent diffusion from the group:
Computaional work-Physics Informed Neural Network (guided by Prof. Saswata Bhattacharya, IIT Hyderabad).
News and Updates
Suman Sadhu won the Best Oral Presentation Award at the Annual Student Symposium, Department of Materials Engineering, IISc, 2026.
Pushkar A. Pandit (jointly guided by Saswata Bhattacharya, IITH) won the Best Poster Award at the IIM, Hyderabad, 2025.
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 Award at 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.
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