Facilities

From atoms to full-scale components.

The CSingh Research Group leverages the MME department's processing and testing infrastructure alongside the institute's Central Research Facility for advanced characterization.

IIT Kharagpur Main Building📷 r/iitkgp
MME Department · IIT Kharagpur

Characterization Facilities

FESEM with EBSD & EDSField emission SEM for high-resolution imaging, crystallographic orientation mapping, and elemental analysis — available via CRF
HRTEMHigh-resolution transmission electron microscopy for atomic-scale imaging and diffraction — available via CRF
Dual-Beam FIB-FEGFocused ion beam with field-emission SEM for site-specific TEM sample preparation and cross-sectioning — available via CRF
X-Ray DiffractionPowder and single-crystal XRD for phase identification, residual stress, and texture analysis — departmental and CRF instruments
Optical MicroscopyMetallographic optical microscopes with digital imaging for microstructure examination — departmental
NanoindentationNano-indentation and nano-tribology system for local mechanical property mapping — available via CRF
X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS)Surface chemical analysis for oxidation, corrosion, and thin-film studies — available via CRF
Thermal Analysis (DSC / DTA / TGA)Differential scanning calorimetry, differential thermal analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis for phase transformation and oxidation studies — departmental
MME Department · IIT Kharagpur

Processing & Testing Laboratories

Thermo-Mechanical Processing Lab

Rolling mills, extrusion, and forging rigs for processing Mg, Al, and steel alloys with controlled thermomechanical schedules.

Melting & Casting Lab

Induction melting, vacuum arc melting, and gravity casting facilities for alloy synthesis from raw materials.

Heat Treatment Lab

Box furnaces, tube furnaces, and salt-bath setups for solid-state annealing, quenching, and ageing treatments up to 1200 °C.

Powder Metallurgy Lab

Ball milling, compaction, and sintering facilities for powder-route processing of metals and composites.

Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS)

Rapid densification of powders under simultaneous pressure and pulsed DC current for ODS steels, composites, and refractory materials.

Mechanical Testing Lab

Instron universal testing machines and servo-hydraulic load frames for tensile, compression, fatigue, and fracture testing.

Creep Testing Lab

Constant-load creep frames for long-duration elevated-temperature testing of structural alloys.

Corrosion & Electrochemistry Lab

Potentiostats and immersion test rigs for electrochemical characterization, polarization curves, and EIS of metallic alloys.

Central Research Facility · IIT Kharagpur

Institute Shared Instruments

The IIT Kharagpur Central Research Facility (CRF) provides institute-wide access to high-end analytical instruments. Key instruments relevant to the group's research are listed below.

Zeiss Sigma 300 VP-FESEMHigh-resolution FESEM with variable pressure mode, EBSD, ECCI, and EDS capabilities
JEOL Analytical FESEMMulti-mode field emission SEM with elemental mapping and low-voltage imaging
Analytical TEM (HRTEM / STEM)200 kV TEM with HAADF-STEM, EDS, and SAED for atomic-resolution structural analysis
Cross-Beam FIB-FEG (Zeiss)Dual-column FIB/SEM for 3D tomography and precision TEM lamella preparation
Variable-Temperature XRDPowder diffraction with in-situ heating capability for phase transformation studies
Nano-Indentation & Nano-TribologySub-mN indentation for local elastic modulus and hardness mapping
SQUID MagnetometerSuperconducting quantum interference device for magnetic property measurements
X-Ray Micro-CTNon-destructive 3D imaging of internal microstructure and defects
Computational Resources

Computing & Simulation

PARAM Supercomputer (IIT KGP)

Institute-level HPC cluster under the National Supercomputing Mission, providing access to large-scale DFT, molecular dynamics, and phase-field simulations.

Group Workstations

Dedicated compute nodes for EBSD/MTEX texture analysis, finite-element simulations, and data processing pipelines.

Simulation Software

Thermo-Calc, DICTRA (CALPHAD thermodynamics), MTEX (texture analysis), ABAQUS (FEA), and LAMMPS (molecular dynamics).