Indian Metallurgy

Tata Steel had always been the beacon of technology advancement in the country. In a country where investment in industrial research has not been readily available, Tata Steel has been a remarkable exception. The path towards research and development in Tata Steel can roughly be broken down into three parts. In its early years, i.e. till the Second World War, Tata Steel was involved in the development of rail steel grades and steels for armour application and bridge construction. From then till the end of 1990s, the Jamshedpur R&D centre firmly upheld the business in improving yield at different phases of operations and in advancing new products for the Indian market to suit the production process. At the turn of the millennium, with rapidly changing internal and external environment, Tata Steel R&D outfitted to meet the strategic objectives of the organization for sustained differentiation at market place and value creation for stakeholders. This paper outlines Tata Steel’s glorious and gritty research and development saga.

Walchandnagar Industries Ltd. (WIL) was founded in 1908 and has been a significant Indian engineering company throughout the platinum years. Founded as a sugarcane farming firm and later diversified into making sugar refined spirits, plastic goods, cement plants, paper and pulp plants, and water tubes has risen to the challenge of projects in nuclear power, aerospace, missile defense, oil and gas and steam generation plants, among others, on the basis of its strong engineering, project management and manufacturing infrastructure. The company has several firsts to its name, including manufacturing critical components for India’s nuclear reactor and submarine missile launchers, among others, and has expertise in fabrication and machining of ferrous and non-ferrous materials, and welding development in highly critical and exotic materials in defense, aerospace.

The article traces the growth of Mukand as a specialist in the production of special, alloy and stainless steel long products, starting with re-rolling mills and a foundry in Mumbai and Lahore in 1937. Over 400 grades of steel including stainless steel long products, alloy and special steel long products for the automotive industry are manufactured today. The company was a pioneer in adopting and making a success of continuous billet casting technology, Vacuum Oxygen Decarburisation technology and Oxygen Top and Bottom blown Converter technology for the manufacture of stainless steel. Today, Mukand is a leading premium producer and exporter of stainless steel long products of austenitic, ferritic, martensitic, precipitation hardening and duplex varieties.

In the pre-independence era, a chance discovery of monazite in Kerala led to its exploitation for the benefit of Europe. Recognizing the importance of rare earth minerals for the Indian nuclear program, Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL), a central government undertaking was incorporated in 1950 to process minerals for the production of rare earths and extraction of thorium. This article describes the genesis and achievements of IREL over the past seven decades, highlighting IREL's contribution to the development of nuclear power industry in India. Having established production facilities for the present requirements of Indian nuclear program, IREL is implementing projects to meet requirements of other strategic applications such as rare earth magnets, and to establish plants to bring new products to the value chain.

The story of M. N. Dastur & Company (P) Ltd. is one of dreams and determination of a young man who set up and grew, over almost 50 years, India’s first consulting engineering organization in the private sector, based entirely on indigenous talent and expertise. It is also a tale of challenges overcome and a firm’s emergence over time as a globally acclaimed consulting leader. The organization has grown from a handful of professionals, each an expert in his own domain, into a large, vibrant multi-disciplinary team that is synonymous with excellence in engineering, business and technology consulting services.

Hindalco’s growth trajectory started in 1958 with setting up of India’s first integrated aluminium facility at Renukoot, in the eastern fringe of Uttar Pradesh, India. The plant was set up by the premier industrialist of India, Shri G.D Birla, in collaboration with Kaiser Aluminium Corporation Ltd. of USA, the 3rd largest producer of aluminium then. The growth continued with brownfield expansions at Renukoot, INDAL acquisition (2001), Novelis (2007), brownfield expansion of some of these plants and major greenfield projects at Utkal, Mahan, Aditya and Hirakud FRP (2014). Hindalco’s acquisition of Aleris Corporation (April 2020), through Novelis Inc., has cemented the Company's position as the world’s largest flat-rolled products player and recycler of aluminium. Today, Hindalco is an industry leader in aluminium and copper, with a consolidated turnover of US$18 billion. Hindalco ranks among the global aluminium majors as an integrated producer with footprints in 9 countries outside India running the gamut of operations from bauxite mining, alumina refining, coal mining, captive power plants and aluminium smelting, to downstream rolling, extrusions and foils. Their product basket serves many industries like Electrical, Mass Transportation, Automotive, Packaging, Cookware, Defence, Building, Construction and Architecture. With its DNA embedded in the Company’s purpose statement that reads—“We manufacture materials that make the world Greener—Stronger—Smarter”, Hindalco has been rated the world’s most sustainable aluminium company in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) 2020. Hindalco got a total score of 75 points as against the industry average of 51.

Starting as a small design organization, MECON’s six decades of glorious journey has witnessed many benchmarks leading to its emergence as one of the premier Indian consultancy and engineering companies, being a Mini Ratna CPSE under Ministry of Steel, Government of India. Over the years, MECON has taken giant strides forward and grown in stature offering turnkey project execution on single point responsibility. Through business diversification and restructuring into three business verticals, viz., Metals, Energy and Infrastructure, it has transformed itself to the needs of changing economic environment and has become a key player in India’s industrial and infrastructure progress.

Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO) was established as a public sector undertaking in Korba, Chhattisgarh in 1965 and subsequently acquired by Vedanta Group in 2001, going on to emerge as India's leading producer of aluminium. BALCO's growth story has had a multiplier effect on the country's economic progress, with downstream businesses and employment opportunities. BALCO has contributed significantly to empowering the country through its 56 years of developmental journey, and its aluminium production has assisted the country's self-reliance. The article discusses BALCO's progress towards excellence by adopting state-of-the-art technology in its processes.

The progressive growth of JSW group in the past three decades has mainly been attributed to the core principles on which the group stands viz. culture and work environment of complete freedom, innovation, empowerment, ethical governance, generous rewards, focus on results and global standards. JSW Steel has been a pioneer in introducing the new technologies in Indian Steel industry, such as Corex technology, setting up of non-recovery vibro-compacting coke ovens, India’s largest blast furnace, the largest and widest hot rolling mill, most modern cold rolling mill and continuous annealed tinplate products. This article brings out the journey of JSW Steel and its contributions to the Indian steel industry.

The National Metallurgical Laboratory was established in the year preceding independence, for research and development in all areas of minerals, metals and materials. It has played a significant role in the industrial revolution of India starting from 1950, especially in the areas of mineral processing, iron and steel making, ferroalloys and extraction of non-ferrous metals. It has pioneered the production of ferroalloys, sponge iron and magnesium in the country. Its recent achievements include several developments to improve the quality of steel produced by secondary melters, coal beneficiation, strategic metals such as tungsten, sodium, gadolinium and lithium, and effluent management, several developments for metal artisans, and various skill development initiatives.

Conventional metallurgical processes to produce metals involve carbothermal reduction of their compounds and suffer from massive carbon emissions. Electrowinning using aqueous electrolytes is a demonstrated approach to obtain many metals. However, aqueous electrolytes are not suitable to produce several classes of metals such as alkali, alkaline earth, refractory, rare earths, and actinides due to their high negative reduction potentials. Molten salt electrolysis is a commercially viable and feasible route for the production of these metals. The present chapter details on the molten salt electrowinning of alkali, alkaline earth, rare earths and refractory metals with a special focus on the efforts at CSIR CECRI in this niche area of science and technology.

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) was established by Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha in January 1954 as Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) for pursuing multidisciplinary research activities to support the nuclear power programme of India. Since its inception, BARC is deeply involved in the adoption, ingestion and development of new technologies in various fields—be it electronics, computations, nuclear, radiation, chemical, biological/health/agriculture and materials. Among these fields, developments of materials have taken a centre stage right from the inception of BARC. Materials and processes required for every stage, from ore processing to extraction, alloy making, fabrication, support during operation, degradation modes to spent fuel reprocessing and waste management have been indigenously developed and successfully implemented with complete understanding. BARC is providing materials related support not only for Indian nuclear power reactors but also for heavy water plants, Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL), Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) and various other plants of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).

Materials degradation due to corrosion is a global issue that disrupts infrastructure, impacting the overall economy. India loses as much as 3-4% of its GDP every year on the account of corrosion. Maintenance is expensive, creates additional logistical problems and disrupts regular activities. India has a long coastal line and the long-term answer to this far-reaching problem is the use of zinc protected steel during the structure’s initial construction stages. In 1836, Sorel in France received a patent for the process of coating a cleaned steel by dipping it in molten zinc, which he names as 'galvanizing'. Galvanized steel plays a vital role in our everyday lives and is widely used in construction, transport, agriculture and power transmission where excellent corrosion protection and long life are essential. Although India has become world’s second-largest crude steel producer, it still lags behind major developed economies in the uptake of galvanized steel. India’s per capita demand for zinc-coated steel is 7 kg, which is far behind the world average of 22 kg. In order to increase the domestic steel production, the government has come out with National Steel Policy 2017, to facilitate faster growth and development of steel industry. In order to achieve this target, it is essential that we protect the steel structures by using galvanized steel, which will ensure a long life, safety, and security of the public. This article presents the details of the galvanizing industry in India, how it has developed over the last several decades and the future outlook.

India’s lead reserves are ~2.2 million tons which is ~2.5% of the world reserves. At present, India’s total consumption of lead is ~1.2 million tons of which about 225,000 comes from primary lead, about 800,000 tons from the secondary lead industry, and the balance accounts for imports. An estimated 85% of lead in use today goes into batteries, mostly for automobiles. The current lead acid battery market size is estimated at US $10 Billion approximately and when the batteries run down, 99% of this lead is recycled to make new batteries, making it a perfect example of circular economy in India. This chapter presents the details of lead recycling in India.

Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL) at Hyderabad had its origins as one of the earliest laboratories under the umbrella of the Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO) during 1958. DMRL was initially carved out of the Technical Development Establishment (Metals), which was earlier called the Inspectorate of Metals and Steel, situated at Ichhapore (near Kolkata).

Achievements in aerospace science and technology are closely related to the successful development and production of engineering materials, meeting stringent quality requirements.

Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC), Hyderabad was conceived as a pivotal industrial arm of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) in the late 60s with a mandate to fuel the nuclear power program of India and came into existence in 1972 as major industrial arm of DAE. This article traces its inception, growth, achievements and ambitious plans to support all strategic sectors.

This article traces the history of the Research & Development Centre for Iron and Steel (RDCIS) in India, from its inception in 1972 to its present status as a world-class research centre. The centre was conceived as the first corporate R&D in the public sector steel industry with the objectives of achieving strategic improvement in critical performance parameters of the steel industry, developing niche steel products for market expansion and import substitution. The initial task was to formulate a detailed ‘Industrial R&D Plan for Iron and Steel’ that included preparing a document highlighting the technological gaps in the Indian Steel Industry and using that as a baseline, to formulate programmes and underlying projects for implementation. The article also details the creation of an appropriate human resource and a world-class laboratory to support research on many aspects of technologies required for steel-making. Collaborative research programs with leading institutions in India and abroad were leveraged to augment the expertise, knowledge, and capabilities of RDCIS's scientific manpower. The text showcases RDCIS's journey in fulfilling its objectives and enhancing the steel industry's capabilities in the nation.

Plasma technologies for metallurgical applications are increasingly being adopted as they have the advantages of the unique properties of plasma. Amongst the major development priorities in many metallurgical operations and the development of new materials, plasma promises improved process control, direct utilization, improved environmental compliance and increased efficiency of energy. As a result, plasma is used for a wide spectrum of applications in materials processing like waste destruction, plasma spraying, plasma cutting, plasma welding, plasma synthesis of nanopowders, iron and steel making and extractive metallurgy for recovery of precious materials. Plasma has also recently been used as a source for the future fusion reactor, where it is confined by using the magnetic field inside the doughnut-shaped vacuum vessel. The fusion reactor which is being developed is seen as a promising, clean source of energy to solve the world’s energy problem in the future as it does not use radioactive materials or pollute the air by carbon emissions. There are many challenging issues related to material constraints and plasma wall interactions which need attention as the operating environment of a fusion reactor imposes radiation damage effects. Detailed metallurgical investigation studies to select the most appropriate material are being done by many researchers. Moreover, the extremely harsh loading conditions in the fusion reactor can only be met with very diligent component design and careful selection of the best-suited material; fabricating and manufacturing techniques and efforts on developing new techniques are being carried out globally by many researchers. In this contributory article, a few examples of plasma-based technologies developed at Institute for Plasma Research (IPR) for industrial applications are described in brief. IPR has also developed, materials, technologies for blanket and fusion reactors, high temperature superconductors (HTS) for fusion magnets and they are elucidated in the below sections.

The International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI) is a research and development institution established in 1990 as a product of India’s extensive bilateral cooperation program, the Integrated Long-Term Programme on Cooperation in Science and Technology with the erstwhile Soviet Union. The centre has a mandate of developing high-performance materials and processes for niche markets, demonstrating technologies at a prototype/pilot scale, transferring technologies to the Indian industry, and training personnel in the identified fields. ARCI has emerged as a nationally important research centre, aligning its research directions with national needs and national missions. The technical progress and evolution of the institute over the last 25 years, along with new initiatives and the vision for the institute, are discussed. The centre has three main thrust areas, namely powder metallurgy and nanomaterials, surface engineering, and new materials for energy applications.

A sequential growth of Metallurgical Engineering education at Banaras Hindu University is discussed. The far-sighted vision of the founder of this great centre of learning is ascribed to the creation of the first-ever Department of Geology, Mining and Metallurgy as early as 1919. The beginning of a full-fledged undergraduate curriculum in metallurgy dates back to 1923. Three distinct phases of materials education in this centre of learning are deliberated. The erstwhile Institute is recently upgraded to the Indian Institute of Technology–a premier group of institutions that still maintains its heritage of materials education. The setting of the Department in the centre of the University is shown to have facilitated an effective interface with the physical, medical and life sciences Departments. This feature of the campus strategy in providing a great uniqueness in the trans-disciplinary teaching and research programs in materials relevant to society is clearly brought out.

The history of the Department of Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru has been enumerated from its conception to mid 2020. The evolution of the undergraduate, post-graduate and Ph.D. programmes has been detailed with respect to the curricula and research investigations carried out. The profiles of the faculty and scientific staff, who have served the Department and those currently in service, have been briefly outlined. The landmark achievements and faculty accomplishments in the annals of the Department have been highlighted. The close linkage between IISc and the Indian Institute of Metals (IIM) has been traced.

The College of Engineering Pune (COEP) is one of the oldest engineering colleges in India and was established in 1854 as the Poona Engineering Class and Mechanical School, with the primary objective to provide technical education to the subordinate officers in the Public Works Department. This article highlights the Department of Metallurgy and Material Science, which was established in 1948 under the leadership of Late Prof. G. K. Ogale. It was established to cater the needs of the country initially for steel manufacturing and development and has diversified itself into all domains of materials science and engineering. Since attaining autonomous status in 2003, COEP has been recognized by the World Bank-funded project as the best-governed institute in India, and has grown with its association with industry and professional bodies. The COEP is focussed on development of newer materials technologies while producing professionally skilled, knowledgeable human resources for the country.

PSG Tech is a renowned engineering institution established by the PSG & Sons’ Charities Trust in 1951, with an effective industry-institute interaction. The Metallurgical Engineering program was established in 1968 as a part of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and subsequently as an independent department since 1974. PSG Tech's Department of Metallurgical Engineering is presently researching in the areas of Biomaterials, Ceramic Materials and Bainitic Steels. They have established a Centre of Excellence in Welding Engineering and Technology funded by the Department of Heavy Industry, Govt of India. The article discusses the history and progress of the Department of Metallurgical Engineering at PSG College of Technology in Coimbatore, India.

The Department of Metallurgical & Materials Engineering is one of the oldest departments of IIT Madras, established in the same year as the Institute (1959).

This article describes the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering (MME) of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Durgapur in India, which has been a significant center for metallurgical and materials teaching and research since its inception in 1960. The department currently offers B.Tech., M.Tech. and Ph.D. programs in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, and has expertise in areas such as Extractive Metallurgy, Physical Metallurgy, Manufacturing Processes, Nano-Science and Nano-Technology, Modelling and Simulations, Powder Metallurgy, Advanced Materials, and Corrosion Engineering. The department has played an important role in metallurgy and materials-related research and development, and its faculty members have interacted with important academic institutes and organizations.

The Department of Metallurgical & Materials Engineering at the National Institute of Technology Karnataka was established in 1965, and offers undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programmes. The curriculum includes intensive training in conventional metallurgy and advanced topics in metallurgy and materials engineering, along with industrial training and project work. The Department is known for its research activities in various areas, including corrosion, physical metallurgy, heat treatment, powder metallurgy, polymer science and nanotechnology, among others. The Department hosts the local chapter of the Indian Institute of Metals.

The article briefly describes the chronological progress of the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, National Institute of Technology (NIT) Rourkela from the 1960s till date. The rich history of the department along with the present status, particularly the focus on academia and research has been enumerated with milestones, facts, and figures.

This article is a personal account of the evolution of the research ecosystem and academic world of metallurgical engineering in India, from the 1960s to the present day. The author emphasizes the efforts of academic leaders and political support in the establishment of newer steel plants and metallurgical engineering departments in post-independence India. The text reflects on the slow start of graduate education and research in the sixties, which only gained momentum in the seventies. The author notes the contributions of several visionaries, who initiated a transformation towards graduate education and research, leading to the growth of academic research clusters in India.

The transformative potential of the integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) tools and technologies in accelerating the discovery, design, development, manufacturing and deployment of novel materials and products, is briefly reviewed. A practical approach to the realization of the benefits of ICME through judicious use of computational tools based on physics and machine learning along with the utility and power of digital platforms, such as TCS PREMAP, in actual industrial practice for solving challenging problems facing the industry, is illustrated with the help of an example of finding the appropriate composition and processing conditions for achieving a given set of target properties of a dual phase steel grade sheet for its application in the auto sector.

This report is an attempt to portray how development and growth in mechanical metallurgy have occurred in India over the past 50 years (~1970–2020). The report considers the period of growth in three phases as formative years (~1970–1980), pre-2000 (1980–2000) and post-2000 (>2000). The term ‘Mechanical Metallurgy’ (MM) appears to be a misnomer in the current era owing to rapid changes in the contents of this discipline. However, the report attempts to incorporate the contents with an emphasis related to its initial meaning for the sake of brevity; although its growth using the current broad implication of MM as Mechanics of Materials (MMs) is not completely neglected. The salient details of several activities related to the developments over the years are to be fetched only from the limited references cited here. A brief guideline is provided on the future activities for the growth of this discipline in India. The major focus is to acquaint the current generation of researchers with a short glimpse of the history of MM in the stipulated duration.

During the processing of materials such as solidification, deformation or annealing, they acquire crystallographic textures that are unique to those processing steps, which are characteristic of the given material. If the crystallographic orientation of each grain is different from all other grains, the material is said to be ‘randomly oriented’, and if one or more orientations are preferred by most of the grains, then the material is said to be ‘textured’. As texture affects the properties of materials, it is essential to understand its role in the behaviour of materials under different processing conditions. Sustained research in India on the texture of materials, for the past five decades put the country on the Texture map of the world. This article is an attempt to reveal the fascinating story of texture research in India, with special reference to the journey taken by the author.