Conference on advanced materials kicks off in Thiruvananthapuram

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: One of the key challenges before the Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) is to build capability in advanced functional materials for aerospace technology, said its chairman A S Kiran Kumar.
He was inaugurating a three-day international conference on advanced materials and processes (ADMAT 2017) on the subject: ‘Make in India, Fly in Space: Enabling Materials and Processes’ at Kovalam here on Thursday.
The conference focuses on additive manufacturing, light structural alloys, high temperature materials and coatings.
Various speakers at the conference stressed on the need to ramp up research on advanced materials and enhancing their production. India, which has been competing with advanced countries in space, atomic energy and defence, has achieved substantial progress in these areas in a relatively short time. The systems developed by Isro are robust, reliable, stateof-art and cost-competitive in a global context. Materials are the backbone of many developmental activities across these key sectors, the pointed out.
V K Saraswat, member of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Ayog), who made the presidential address, said that as India plans to promote lowcost electric vehicles with the use of lithium-ion batteries, the demand for lithium will increase. He called for better synergy between research institutions and the industry to bridge the gap from transfer of technology to manufacturing.
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) director K Sivan said the focus has been on encouraging the production of advanced materials for improving the performance of aerospace industry, reducing the payload capacity and to reduce the cost incurred for space launches.
Saraswat indicated the possibilities of increasing the mining activity along the beaches across the country for production of advanced materials.
The three-day conference will feature 42 lectures, 150 poster presentations and two pre-conference tutorials. An exhibition is also planned at the conference venue.
The conference is being organized by ASM India National Council, Mumbai, the Indian Institute of Metals, Trivandrum Chapter, Materials Research Society of India, Trivandrum Chapter, and Society of Aerospace Manufacturing Engineers, Trivandrum Chapter, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru and Indian National Academy of Engineering, New Delhi, with the active support of Isro.