Scope and Objective of the Course

This course is targeted to attain better insight in taking research to a globally competitive level. This course also encourages teachers, students, researchers, and industrial participants to build self-confidence by enhancing their learning and understanding the underlying mechanics of ‘why’ a material performs the way it does!

Theoretical conceptualization will help in grasping the basics and then the lectures will build up the understanding of abstract concepts. Later, the demonstration or ‘lab-visits’ will reinforce the understanding of the participants. Tutoring sessions (with real-life data/challenges) will also allow quantifying and comparing the performance of two competing materials.

The detailed insights to material performance will be attained via:

Conceptualization of material and its microstructure
Optical microscopy and quantification of microstructure
Electron Microscopy for observing topographical and compositional contrast.
Electron mediated signals that can be attained in obtaining material-specific information (i.e. elemental analysis, phase distribution, crystal structure, spread of crystallite, inter-planar spacing, interfaces, etc)
Surface area of powders for catalytic performance and optical profilometry for quantifying roughness and/or surface specific damage
Advanced characterization tools for customized analysis of intriguing and fascinating behavior of materials (such as nanostructures providing superhydrophobicity, adhesion strength of bacteria, role of valence of cation in affecting the ion transport, micro-spread/agglomeration of atoms at interfaces, etc).