Research

My research interest encompasses advanced manufacturing of metal and metal alloys, semiconductor materials, catalysts, and metamaterials, through laser-based surface engineering, solid-state processing, and additive manufacturing. The focus of my research group will be to develop novel processing methods, understanding the fundamentals with a focus on contributing towards reducing carbon emission and improving energy efficiency. These advanced manufacturing methods have given rise to countless applications in diverse fields such as energy harvesting, aerospace, vehicle technology, sensing, and decarbonization. Combining multiple functionalities in a single component increases complexity in fabrication and demands innovation in material processing. The overall goal of my research group will be to develop material processing technologies that will provide high throughput, low-cost, efficient solutions to processing advanced multifunctional materials. Some of the focus areas are as follows:

Wettability Modification by Laser Processing: We have developed an inexpensive high-throughput laser-based nanostructuring process to transform metal surfaces to achieve multi-functionalities that combine tunable wettability, self-cleaning, and anti-reflectivity. The wettability of the nanostructured surface was tuned from superhydrophobicity to superhydrophilicity by controlling the surface nanostructures and chemistry. The final wetting performance of laser-textured surfaces is a complex combination of surface micro/nanostructures and chemistry. We developed a systematic design approach to modify the dispersive and non-dispersive components of surface chemistry of the same laser-textured metal alloys to achieve various extreme wettabilities for a target application. It demonstrates surface chemistry design to match different applications, including repelling water and oil, absorbing water and oil, and separating oil and water from a mixture. We have shown that laser-textured surfaces can have enhanced properties in different application environments, such as:

Enhanced anti-icing behavior
Llight-absorbing capability in visible and infrared spectra.
Excellent corrosion protection
Selective catalytic activity

Related publications:

Wettability Patterning: By carefully controlling the surface chemistry and surface structure, we developed a maskless laser-based processing technique to fabricate a patterned wetting surface where alternating water affinitive and repellant regions co-exist side by side. Wettability-patterned surfaces have shown the potential for efficient fog harvesting for drinking water.

Related publications:

Friction stir processing to improve mechanical properties: Friction stir processing (FSP) is used on thin-wall high-pressure die cast (HPDC) parts to induce microstructural change locally. FSP eliminates porosity and breaks down detrimental microstructural phases, yielding a refined, homogeneous distribution. An intense thermomechanical event produced severe plastic deformation at high temperatures, resulting in dynamic recrystallization that yielded microstructural change. The FSP-driven microstructural refinement and porosity reduction improve yield strength, ductility, and high-cycle fatigue life.

Related publications:

Modeling and Simulation: We have developed numerical models to study thermomechanical material behavior and microstructure evolution in continuum and atomic-scale for ultrasonic- and friction-stir-based joining processes for the electric car battery cell. These numerical simulations helped us to rationally narrow down the process design parameters without expensive tooling and prototyping for joining processes.

Molecular dynamics simulation for interfacial diffusion
Finite element process model for thermomechanical response
Cellular automata-based model for microstructure evolution

Related publications: