DrJithin Joseph

·       Fabrication of compositionally complex alloys: I have developed excellent capability to fabricate a wide range of compositionally complex alloys through numerous processing techniques and fabricated multi-component alloys by additive manufacturing using cost-effective elemental powder blends. The combination of discovered multi-component alloy formulations using computational/calculated phase diagrams (data-driven) and the experimental high throughput fabrication made it possible to design, rapidly screen, fabrication, and the characterisation of alloy formulations with excellent functionalities (eutectic and γ’-strengthened high-temperature alloys). 

·       Integrity of engineering surfaces and coatings: A significant portion of my work involves the preservation of the integrity of the engineering surfaces against the combined action of wear, corrosion, oxidation and complex mechanical loading. This includes the application of protective coatings to the engineering surfaces or the introduction of alloying elements to improve the functionality of the engineering surfaces. I have hands on experience in hot dip coatings (galvanised coatings-ongoing work; aluminised coating- master’s thesis), CVD (Ti-, Al- and Si- coating on Cu for improved wear resistance and retaining antimicrobial properties- master’s thesis; Al-coating on high-temperature Fe-Ni-Cr and Ni-Fe model alloys) and PEO (oxide coating on Zn-surfaces) coatings. The PEO-coated ZnO layer acted as a pre-cursor layer for the formation of tailored surface coating on Zn-alloy surfaces for enhanced resistance against corrosion and wear (published in Surface & Coatings Technology). We have developed alloys and coatings enriched in Al (and/or Cr) to impart excellent resistance against wear, corrosion and oxidation at high operating temperatures (including a completed PhD supervision on Laser Additive Manufacturing of High-entropy Alloy Coatings).

·       Crossing the boundaries of physical metallurgy of different alloys: I designed novel alloys combining the physical metallurgy concepts of different traditional alloy systems. I extended the functional capabilities of austenitic stainless steels by combining the precipitation-strengthening capability of nickel-based superalloys and published this concept in Scripta Materialia. I designed a novel approach to design multi-component eutectic alloy combinations and maximising the Fe-content for cost-specific mechanical properties (published in JALCOM).  In the near future, I want to extend my research to the design of high-strength Ti alloys (as-deposited state) by introducing precipitation strengthening and/or eutectic microstructure. These high-strength and ductile lightweight alloys may be ideally suited for high-end applications in the defence, aerospace, energy generation and biomedical sectors.

·       Sustainable and cost-effective alloy design: Most of the traditional alloys are compositionally precise. A series of my latest works demonstrated a new concept of “microstructure-driven mechanical performance”, where the low-cost alloys showed similar mechanical performance as that of high-cost alloys with similar microstructural features. The highlight of this theme is the proposal of a Scrap-tolerant alloying concept (co-authored featured article in Acta Materialia) that showed an extensive compositional variability. We also developed a cost-effective way of fabricating compositionally complex alloys using recycled commercial alloys instead of pure elemental billets (published in Journal of Alloys & Compounds).