Mechanics of Materials Lab

Welcome to the Mechanics of Materials Lab

Our lab is interested in understanding mechanical behavior of metals, polymers and ceramics over a wide range of length scales and time scales through experiments and simulations. We develop in situ experimental methods to investigate constitutive behavior, fracture and failure in a variety of materials, under static and dynamic loading. More recently, we are working with materials at extreme loading conditions including plate impact and very high temperatures. Our group is also involved in several computational mechanics projects, especially related to finite element modeling of fracture and failure in single and polycrytalline metals and ceramics that support our experimental observations. We are unique lab working on the structure-property correlation at small time and length scales.  

In the below slide, you will find a glimpse of our past work on the development side, where our lab students have designed and built various in situ experimental setups with multiple independent and simultaneous measurements to investigate a variety of materials. 

Positions Available:

Postdoctoral Fellow:

1. Dynamic failure in high strength steels subject to impact loading: The project involves experiments and simulation of high strain rate loading of metals to investigate, model and simulate, failure. 

PhD Students: 

1. Dynamic deformation, shear banding and failure due to impact on metals: In this project, the effect of projectile impact on metals will be studied with a focus on damage initiation and evolution, with a focus on the nucleation and growth of cracks leading to complete fracture. Both material constitutive and fracture models will be developed to study the physics of failure in single and multilayer systems.

2. Mechanics of polymer thin films for battery and seminconductor applications: In this project, the student will work on the in situ mechanics of polymers, used in battery and seminconductor applications, mainly in the thin film form, to investigate the effect of molecular structure and its evolution on the deformation, phase and morphology changes, and fracture, subjected to thermo-mechanical loads.  

Internship: If you are an undergraduate student of Mechanical Engineering studying in a Mumbai based college (or can take of your own accommodation in Mumbai), and would like to pursue your BE/BTech project for 6 months at IITB, email me with you resume and areas of interest.