Bio Sketch

Postdoctoral associate: Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA (Nov 2022 - Oct 2024)

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.): Department of Materials Science and Engineering, IIT Delhi (Jan 2018 - May 2022).

Master of Technology (M.Tech.): Materials Science and Technology, IIT BHU, Varanasi (July 2010 - June 2012).

Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.): Mechanical Engineering, IIMT Meerut (July 2002 - June 2006).

School Education: Kendriya Vidyalaya Mughalsarai, Uttar Pradesh.

In-situ TEM mechanical testing of nanoparticles. 

Development of Advanced Alloys.

Corrosion

Tribology

Recrystallization

Material Characterization

Mechanical Properties of alloys

Magnesium rare earth Alloys

Light metal alloys

Materials Engineering

Senior Research Fellow (SRF) at IIT Delhi, India (Jan, 20 - July 2022).

Teaching assistant (TA) of Materials Science and Engineering (APL102) at IIT Delhi, Delhi (Jan, 2018 - April, 2022).

Junior Research Fellow (JRF) at IIT Delhi, India (Jan, 2018 - Dec, 2019).

Worked as an Assistant Professor at United College of Engineering & Research, Praygraj, Uttar Pradesh (Affiliated to AKTU, Uttar Pradesh for almost 9 years.

Recognized with the prestigious Materials Science and Technology Gold Medal at IIT BHU Varanasi in July 2012. 

Received the Gold Medal for Outstanding Performance in the Mechanical Engineering Branch at IIMT Meerut UPTU University.

Qualified Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE-2010) in Mechanical Engineering with 462 gate score.

Investigations on the corrosion of copper/brass electrical contacts of the starter motor, Auto Lek , Auto Ignition Ltd, Haryana India 2019. (Supervised by Prof. Jayant Jain, Prof. Nitya Nand Gosvami and Prof. Suresh Neelakantan).

Replacement of Cr(VI) Coating for Phosphor Bronze Bellows, WIKA Instruments India Pvt Ltd, Delhi India 2020. (Supervised by Prof. Jayant Jain, Prof. Nitya Nand Gosvami and Prof. Suresh Neelakantan).

Mechanical, Wear and Corrosion properties of a novel Mg-10Dy-0.7La alloy under the supervision of Prof. Jayant Jain and Prof. Nitya Nand Gosvami.

Magnesium (Mg) alloys have attracted significant attention as a potential replacement material for aluminium alloys in the automobile industry due to their superior strength-to-weight ratio. However, poor corrosion resistance restricts their use in various engineering applications and thus, it needs to be significantly improved. Therefore, it is necessary to design Mg alloys with excellent mechanical, wear, and corrosion properties. The addition of rare-earth (RE) elements in Mg alloys results in the weakening of the recrystallization texture, which improves formability, precipitation hardening and enhances its resistance to corrosion and tribological properties owing to the solid solution strengthening as well as increased melting temperatures of the second phase.  Dysprosium (Dy) is one of the RE elements with many advantages as an alloying element with Mg, such as microstructure refinement, precipitation hardening, and minimal electrochemical potential difference. Furthermore, the micro-alloying of La in Mg alloys significantly improves the mechanical and corrosion properties. Thus, Dy and La are potential alloying elements for developing novel Mg-RE alloys. Binary alloy Mg-10Dy and ternary alloy Mg-10Dy-0.7La were developed through casting. This Ph.D. research work is mainly focused on the effect of 0.7 wt.% La addition on mechanical, wear and corrosion behavior is investigated to evaluate the potential of these alloy systems.

Optimatimization of the microstructure and properties of the alloys were carried out through solution treatment and aging treatment. The potential of minor La addition in modifying the texture and recrystallization behavior of cold-rolled Mg-10Dy (wt.%) alloy was investigated. The samples were rolled and subsequently annealed at 350℃ for varying time intervals. La addition was found to be significantly effective in enhancing the contraction and double twinning. This eventually resulted in faster recrystallization kinetics, finer grain size and weaker texture upon annealing in an Mg-Dy-La alloy compared to Mg-Dy alloy. The Johnson-Mehal-Avrami-Kolmogorov (JMAK) model was employed to capture the evolution of recrystallization in both the alloys. A good agreement between model predictions and experimental results was obtained.

The effect of a small La addition on Mg-10Dy alloy has been studied using isothermal aging at 120℃. A combination of scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) imaging and high-angle annular dark-field (HAADF) based electron tomography has been used to characterize the precipitates.  and  precipitates were identified, where  precipitates form a bridge connecting two  precipitates, thus forming a continuous network of precipitates. This network results in a significant increase in hardness.

Further, the effect of minor La addition on the wear behavior of as-cast Mg-RE alloy (Mg-10 wt.%Dy) was investigated in dry sliding conditions at different loads. The addition of RE elements to the Mg alloys effectively improves wear resistance at different loads. The experiments were performed using a ball-on-disc tribometer with a steel ball counterface as a function of normal load and constant sliding velocity. The wear surfaces were analyzed using a 3D profilometer and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) to investigate wear rate and wear mechanisms. It was observed that due to the formation of a stable oxide, surface layers and improved hardness of La containing alloy, the wear rate was significantly lower than the Mg-10Dy alloy at different applied normal loads. Abrasion, delamination, oxidation, and plastic deformation were established as the governing wear mechanisms.

The novel Mg alloy (Mg-10Dy-0.7La) was studied to have an excellent combination of corrosion and mechanical properties at room temperature (RT). In the automotive sector, RT and high-temperature corrosion investigation in chloride and cooling media are required for its wide applicability in automotive engine components. A combination of immersion test, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedence measurements was utilized to evaluate the corrosion behavior under chloride and ethylene glycol (EG) media. The results suggest that Mg-10Dy-0.7La alloy has a considerably enhanced corrosion resistance as compared to AZ91 Mg alloy. This was attributed to higher activation energy and enhanced density of oxides (Dy2O3, La2O3, MgO and MgCO3) in the former.

In summary, the present study reports development of novel Mg-10Dy-.7La alloys with improved mechanical, wear, and corrosion properties for automotive applications.

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