Specialisation:

High Temperature Materials; Mechanical Behaviour of Materials

Major Professional Contributions:

Prof. Rahul Mitra is well-recognized for his pioneering contributions in the country towards fundamental research for development of composite materials, being developed for weight-saving or high temperature aerospace applications. He has so far 171 publications in peer reviewed journals, 8 book chapters, and two patents (h-index: 34 by Google Scholar). Furthermore, he has authored a book with the title, “Structural Intermetallics and Intermetallic Matrix Composites” published in 2015 by CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group, and has also edited a book with the title, “Intermetallic Matrix Composites: Properties and Applications”. He has supervised or co-supervised 18 PhD dissertations to completion within a span of 18 years (since 2002), and presently has 10 research scholars directly under his guidance, as well as another 6 under joint supervision. He has worked on sponsored projects worth about INR. 150 Million (USD 2 Million) as the Principal Investigator.

Prof. Mitra is known internationally for his achievements in development of molybdenum, niobium and titanium silicides as well as ultra-high temperature ceramics. His research has contributed significantly towards devising novel processing methods, promoting scientific understanding of their structure-property relations, as well as evaluation of deformation and oxidation behavior at elevated temperatures.

In the area of cast in-situ Al alloy based metal-matrix composites, Prof. Mitra has pioneered the development of mushy state rolling as a process for refinement of microstructure with chemical homogenization and redistribution of particles, thereby leading to faster age-hardening kinetics, surface hardening and significant improvement in mechanical and wear properties. His studies demonstrating the presence of partially coherent interfaces in the in-situ metal-matrix composites with fine particulate reinforcements, and their positive effects on mechanical properties have been highly cited.
Prof. Mitra’s work on processing and in-situ tensile straining of nanocrystalline thin films in transmission electron microscope, as well as correlation of their deformation behavior with grain size distributions has been highly cited. His recent research has shown that the reactively magnetron sputtering process can be significantly fine-tuned by altering Ar:N2 ratio and substrate bias to develop Ni-TiN nanocomposite films with desirable TiN volume fraction and grain sizes. He has also developed Ni-Zr alloy coatings with mixed amorphous-nanocrystalline structure. Superior mechanical and corrosion resistance of these films confirm the possibility of their use as protective coatings.

Prof. Mitra has contributed profusely to development of research infrastructure for high temperature deformation and creep, oxidation as well as thin film processing in his department. As Chairman of the Central Research Facility at IIT Kharagpur, he has significantly upgraded the characterization facilities, which has not only boosted the capability of high quality research within the Institute, but also supports users from different parts of the country. Subsequently, as Heads of the department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, as well as the School of Nano-Science and Technology, he has contributed profusely to their growth in academic and research front.

As one of the editors of the Transactions of the Indian Institute of Metals as well as Associate Editor of the Bulletin of Materials Science, he has also contributed significantly to improving the quality of materials research documentation in the country. He is presently serving as Associate Editor of the Sadhana, published jointly by the Indian Academy of Sciences and the Springer, and as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board, The Transactions of the Indian Ceramic Society, published jointly by the Indian Ceramic Society and the Springer. He is presently the Chairman of IIM Kharagpur Chapter and EMSI East Zone.

Prof. Mitra has served as members of the Programme Advisory Committee on Minerals, Metals and Materials of the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) from 1998 to 2001 as well as from 2012 to 2021. He is also a member of the SERB subject expert committee for NPDF, Start-up Research Grant, and Power. He has served as member of the subject expert committee of DST-Women Scientists Scheme during 2016-19, as well as DST-FIST during 2019-20. Furthermore, he has served as a member of the Naval Research Board-Materials Panel during 2016-21. He is a member of the Programme Advisory and Review Committee (Coatings) of Gas Turbine Materials Research Programme of Aeronautical Research and Development Board since 2019. He has also served as a member of the Technical Advisory Group of the Advanced Research Centre, Hyderabad for oxide and non-oxide ceramics from 2017 to 2020. He has contributed to development of course curriculum as a member of the Board of Studies for the departments of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering of several NITs and similar academic institutions.

Consultancy Areas:

Sector Associated With:

Sectors Interested to Offer Service:

Professional Experience

Professor (HAG) Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur Aug 15 – Present

Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering

Head Department of Metallurgical & Materials Engineering  Apr 17 – Dec 20 

Head School of Nano-Science and Technology Oct 16 – Dec 20

Professor Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur Dec 08–Aug 15

Chairman Materials Science Division, Central Research Facility Dec 09 – Nov 17

Vice-Chairman Materials Science Division, Central Research Facility Dec 06 - Nov 09 

Visiting Professor University of Southern California, Los Angeles Jan 01 – May 15, 08

Associate Professor Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur Aug.,’04 –Dec. ‘08

Professor-In-Charge       High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope August 05- Present

Dual Beam FIB-FEG Microscope and Scanning Electron Microscope,

Central Research Facility, IIT Kharagpur

Assistant Professor Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur Sept.,’02 - Aug.’04

Scientist “E” Defence Metallurgical Research Lab, Hyderabad July '02 – August, ‘02

Post-Doctoral Fellow Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A. July '98 – June '00

Scientist “D” Defence Metallurgical Research Lab, Hyderabad July '97 – June ’02

Scientist “C” Defence Metallurgical Research Lab, Hyderabad April '93-June '97

 Research Assistant Northwestern University, U.S.A.            September '88 – December '92

Keywords

High temperature materials, Ultra-high Temperature Ceramics, Molybdenum Silicides, Niobium Silicides, Metal Matrix Composites, Creep, Oxidation, Transmission Electron Microscopy, Nanocrystalline materials, Thin film processing and characterization