Advanced Ceramics & Composites

Advanced Ceramics and Composites Division (ACCD) focuses on cutting edge research and development of technology for various advanced ceramics and composite materials. The division focuses on development of products for wide spectrum of industrial, aerospace, defense, and energy sector for applications like clutch plate, brake pad/disc, hydrogen storage, thin film sensors, photo/electro catalyst, etc. The research team develops diverse materials like silicon carbide, silicon nitride, SiAlON, AlN, h-BN, MAX phases, MXenes, ultra high temperature ceramics, carbon fiber reinforced ceramic composites, and polymer derived ceramic modules. The division has conventional and advanced materials manufacturing facilities like bulk and thin film ceramic processing techniques through hot press, spark plasma sintering, hot isostatic press, and chemical vapor deposition with sophisticated characterization facilities. The development of products having desired technology readiness level is backed by advanced machines like hard turning machine, electrical discharge machining, vertical machining center, laser assisted diamond turning machine, surface grinding machine, micromachining, additive manufacturing and metrological machines like high resolution surface, form & roughness, and coordinate measuring machines. The division integrates basic materials science, high-end engineering and computational modeling of materials with dedicated team of scientists and technical staff. The division also collaborates with premium agencies such as DRDO, ISRO, DAE, etc. for the development of cutting edge advanced products based on structural ceramics and composite materials.

• Processing of advanced ceramic and composite materials: Processing activities include processing of super hard ceramic using both conventional (slip casting, powder shaping and sintering) and non-conventional (additive manufacturing) of SiC, Si₃N₄, B₄C, TiC, SiAlON and AlON ceramics, UHTC composites, MAX phase ceramics, C_f-SiC, Grpahene-metal & ceramic composites, ceramic matrix composites (CMCs), AlN and high entropy ceramics for strategic, structural and energy applications. Processing of ceramic thin films and coating from pre-ceramic precursor using CVD methods, like SiC, SiO_xC_y and coating for cutting tool applications are also one of the key focus areas of the advanced ceramics and composite divisions. Processing of nanomaterial synthesis by sol-gel based wet-chemical methods for waste water treatment and catalytic application is another activity of ACCD. Utilization of agro- and industrial wastes toward value added products is the new activity of the division. Divisions also try to build up expertise in the area of computational material design.
• Advanced machining: Division also engages in fabrication of components from brittle and hard materials made by advanced machining facilities like abrasive water jet machining, precision grinding and polishing, CNC machining lathe, vertical milling machine, laser assisted ductile mode machining, and, near-net-shaping of precision optics glass lenses.
• Characterizations: ACCD further looks into characterization of mechanical behavior, structural, thermal, opto-electronic behavior of materials along with development of structure-property correlation. Typical examples are mechanical behavior of materials from room to high temperature using universal testing machine, micro to nanohardness, high temperature nanoindentation, oxidation studies, wear and friction behavior at ambient and controlled environment with temperature dependence study, spectroscopy studies and microstructural characterization.

• Dense silicon nitride and sialon wear resistant components
• Reaction bonded silicon nitride components
• Hexagonal boron nitride powder
• Dense reaction bonded silicon carbide composite materials (covered by : Indian Patent, 226270, 16 December, 2008)
• Carbon fibre reinforced silicon carbide components
• Biomorphic SiC ceramic composite materials
• Porous SiC ceramics
• SiSiC ceramic composite using processed bio-precursors

Ongoing Projects