National Institute of Advanced Manufacturing Technology (NIAMT) formerly known as the National Institute of Foundry and Forge Technology (NIFFT) is a public engineering and research institution in Ranchi.It was established in 1966 by the Government of India in collaboration with UNDP – UNESCO to provide qualified engineers and specialists for running foundry and forge industries. It is an autonomous and Centrally Funded Technical Institute (CFTI) by Ministry of Education (MOE), Government of India.The institute offers postdoctoral, doctoral and master's program at the graduate level and bachelor's program and advanced diploma courses at the undergraduate level. The objectives of the institute have broadened to meet the present need of the industries, with the introduction of departments of Manufacturing Engineering in 1985, Materials and Metallurgical Engineering in 1998 , Mechanical Engineering in 2020 and Electronics and Computer Engineering in 2021.Apart from training students, NIAMT also provides consultancy, documentation and information retrieval services in manufacturing engineering, industrial metallurgy and in foundry and forge sectors.
The influence of heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of A392, Al–Si alloy are investigated in the current research work. The heat treatment optimization was carried out in two steps: First was to maximize the supersaturation of Si in α-Al, followed by water quenching; however, the second step included the aging effect. Aluminum alloy (A392) cast samples were solutionized at 460, 480, and 500 °C for a time period of 2, 4, 6, and 8 h and then employed with water quenching process. Microstructural characteristics and mechanical properties of solutionized samples were studied. The solutionizing at 480 °C for 6 h, followed by quenching, showed better optimization and an increase in mechanical properties with maximum supersaturation of Si. The optimization of aging treatment was performed by applying solutionizing at 480 °C for 6 h, pursued by quenching and further aging at temperatures (160, 180, and 200 °C) for (6, 9, and 12 h). The microstructure analysis, tensile strength, elongation, hardness, and fracture surface of the tensile specimens were examined. The optimal aging cycle obtained was at a temperature of 180 °C for 9 h. The optimal heat treatment cycle (T6 condition) of A392 alloy was solutionizing at 480 °C for 6 h, accompanied by water quenching and further artificial aging at a temperature of 180 °C for 9 h. The optimal condition of heat treatment increases the mechanical properties; strength (UTS) increased to 192.4 MPa from 106 MPa as-cast condition, and the overall percentage elongation increased up to 62
Surface modification of Ti-6Al-4V alloy was done by developing HA cladding using 400 W fiber laser. A detailed microstructural analysis was carried out by using an optical profilometer, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The wettability analysis was performed using Hank’s solution (pH 7.4). The microstructure characterization revealed that surface was rough, porous with presence of few micro-cracks. The Ca, Ti, P, and O elements were distributed uniformly and homogeneously across the HA-cladded surface, according to the EDS mapping. HA-cladded surface showed improvement in wettability properties compared to as-received Ti-6Al-4V alloy.
In the present work, hydroxyapatite (HA)-50 wt.% TiO2 composite coating has been developed on Mg-alloy by laser cladding process using 400 W continuous wave fibre laser. A detailed microstructural characterisation has been done by using optical profilometry, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction techniques. The wettability analysis has been done by the sessile method using hank's solution. The average roughness is 0.5 mu m for the Mg-1% Ca alloy and 1.45 mu m for laser-cladded surface. The microstructure analysis shows uniform deposition with the presence of porosities, particles and few cracks on the top surface of laser-cladded surface. The composition analysis shows the uniform and homogeneous distribution of Ca, Ti, P, and O on the laser-cladded surface. The phase analysis shows the presence alpha, beta phase in Mg-1% Ca alloy and the presence of Ca2P2O7, Ca-3(PO4)(2), CaTiO3 and TiO2 (rutile) phases in the laser-cladded surface. There is an improvement in wettability of the laser-cladded surface as compared to as-received Mg alloy.
Standard and pulsed gas metal arc welding (GMAW) were performed at a constant welding speed of 300, 600, and 1000 mm/min with eight different wire feed rates (WFR). The effect of input parameters on arc stability, metal transfer mode, penetration depth, hardness, and microstructure was discussed. Voltage and current transients recorded by oscilloscope were used to analyse the arc stability and metal transfer mode by plotting probability density distribution (PDD) graphs of arc voltage and welding current. With an increase in WFR, standard GMAW transformed from bimodal to unimodal (due to the absence of short-circuiting mode and activation of pulsed mode) and the pulsed GMAW graph transformed from multimodal to bimodal (due to faster droplet detachment and lowered background current duration). In addition, a nonlinear mathematical model was generated to adequately predict bead profile parameters. For both standard and pulsed GMAW, maximum penetration depth was achieved at the lowest welding speed and highest WFR. But deeper penetration was achieved in pulsed G compared to the standard for the same input parameters. Hardness and the number of non-diffusional phases in the weld and heat-affected zone (HAZ) increased with welding speed.
Ductile iron is becoming popular in many industrial applications due to its comparatively high strength and a considerable amount of ductility, which is because of the presence of spheroidal graphite in the microstructure. An effort has been made to improve the nodularity value of graphite in ductile iron by varying the fineness of inoculant, that is, ferro-silicon (Fe-Si) and section thickness of the casting. Further, the effects on mechanical properties are also studied. The spheroidal graphite iron specimens for different inoculant treatments, such as without any inoculation, in-mold inoculation with coarse, and fine Fe-Si, are prepared. The results have shown that the nodularity increased with in-mold inoculation with Fe-Si, and for the same amount of inoculated Fe-Si, the nodularity is higher for fine Fe-Si. Ultimate tensile strength is also found to increase with the increase in nodularity, and maximum strength of approximate to 460 MPa is recorded for a specimen having in-mold inoculation with fine Fe-Si. Stepped bar specimens of different thicknesses are also prepared by casting with the same composition for studying the effect of section thickness, and nodularity value is found to be higher for the thinnest section and is about approximate to 48%.
