The Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, National Institute of Technology (NIT) Rourkela today inaugurated the 4th International Conference on “Processing and Characterization of Materials (ICPCM 2022)”. Shri Atanu Bhowmick (Director In-charge, Rourkela Steel Plant) graced the inaugural ceremony as the Chief Guest. The conference starts today and will conclude on 11th December 2022.
A total of 100 candidates participated in this event from all over the country. Eminent academicians, researchers and scientists from all over India and abroad are delivering their keynote addresses at this 3-day conference. The conference aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the latest developments in materials processing and characterization. A total 92 of technical papers (oral and poster) will be presented in 8 technical sessions at this conference.
The inaugural session started with an introductory note by the convenor of the conference, Prof. Kumud Kant Mehta. Welcoming the dignitaries & attendees, he said, “ The goal of materials processing is to develop the structural features (such as specific size, shape, crystal structure, and microstructure) for the product to perform well in its intended application. The requirement of materials for more critical applications and digitization of technologies is significantly increasing and it is our pleasure to provide a platform for all researchers to show their technical ability in this area and let the senior practising engineers, established researchers and faculty members to share their knowledge and information. I extend my best wishes to the participants.”
This conference is sponsored by RSP SAIL, Tata Steel, the Science and Engineering Research Board, Summit Technodyne, and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Motivating all the participants with his gracious presence the Chief Guest, Shri Atanu Bhowmick said, “It is heartening to see that NIT Rourkela has taken the initiative to hold such a conference where researchers, academicians and industry professionals can interact and discuss the subject matter. It is interesting to see that the topics chosen for the conference are relevant to the mining and steel sector which is growing rapidly in the country, especially in Rourkela city. Such conference will benefit society at large and will be instrumental in knowledge transfer and keep the business model sustainable through engineering innovation. I hope this conference will go long way in ensuring that whatever we do for progress will be sustainable.”
This 3-day conference has been enrolled by researchers, practising engineers, technocrats, consultants and scientists for presenting their papers and gaining knowledge from distinguished speakers from reputed universities like the University of California (USA), Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, USA), Swinburne University of Technology (Australia), and University of Leoben (Austria).
There will be 8 keynote talks, 6 invited talks and 15 contributory sessions. HOD & Chairman ICPCM 2022, Prof. Anindya Basu also addressed the gathering and said that materials processing is an important step in materials science and engineering, and this conference will enable researchers to determine the structure of a material and correlate this structure to its macroscopic properties to use them in some specific technological applications. He also said that established in 1963, the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering has emerged as a powerhouse for academics, scientific research and cutting-edge technologies. Marking the 60th years of its existence, the department has established new areas of research and teaching in materials engineering.
The event was further addressed by Prof. K. Umamaheshwar Rao (Director, NITR) who congratulated the department for organising the event offline and applauded all the participants for attending the program. He said, “The well-developed infrastructure and diversified expertise of the faculties have provided the department with a global acceptance. The department has provided a platform for young researchers of the nation to discuss their work with experts in the fields. The changes that are happening with rocks in its very atomic level are today analysed by these engineers and different types of alloys are created. Through knowledge and innovation, yesterday’s waste out of mining can be converted into today’s ore or an altogether different alloy form of different engineering shapes, thus making a progress to sustainability.”
Hoping for an effective outcome from this conference, the inaugural event concluded with a vote of thanks by the Secretary, ICPCM 2022 Prof. Krishna Dutta. A few topics of the conference is ‘India Roadmap to Carbon Capture’, ‘Technical Challenge in Green Steel’, ‘Role of Hydrogen in Green Technology’, ‘Challenges and Efforts to reduce Carbon Footprint’, Government Decarbonisation Policies etc.