Sumanth Shankar Joins McMaster University as an Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering and the Braley-Orlick Chair in Advanced Manufacturing
Sumanth Shankar joined WPI as graduate student in 1996. He had obtained his undergraduate degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the Institute of Technology – Banaras Hindu University in India. He completed his PhD at ACRC-MPI in May 2000 under the guidance of Professor. Diran Apelian. He continued to work at MPI as a post doctoral fellow till 2002 and as a research scientist till 2004. His doctoral dissertation was titled "The Study of Molten Metal/Ferrous Die Interface Reactions in Aluminum Die Casting”, wherein he established a mechanism for the interfacial reaction mechanism between molten aluminum and tool steel. He quantified process parameters that affect die soldering in aluminum die casting and developed a clear understanding of the metallurgy and kinetics of the formation of the soldering interface which culminated in proposing working solutions to mitigate die soldering. Further, he also developed novel and efficient coatings for tool dies in aluminum casting. During his tenure as a post doctoral fellow and research scientist, he jointly developed a theory to explain the mechanism of the formation of eutectic phases and their chemical modification in hypoeutectic Al-Si alloys. This work has brought to fruition the various efforts by eminent scientists across the world for the last eight decades. The use of innovative metallographic techniques such as Focused Ion Beam milling (FIB) coupled with an in-depth analysis of the rheological properties of the Al-Si eutectic melt led to the formulation of a working model to explain the nucleation of the eutectic phases and the refinement of their morphology effect due to addition of trace elements such as Sr or Na to the Al-Si melt. The results of this ongoing work have lead to development of novel families of Al alloys yielding better properties and performance. Another significant contribution by Sumanth is his role in the invention of Controlled Diffusion Solidification (CDS): a novel casting technique to effectively produce shape castings of Al based wrought alloys and Rheocast Al based cast alloys. The process involves mixing two alloy melts with controlled compositions and temperatures to produce the final shape casting with the desired composition and microstructure. This process is currently gaining wide acceptance from both the commercial and academic sectors alike. In addition, to his research contributions, Sumanth helped maintain the microscope and casting facilities at WPI and also helped various graduate and undergraduate students in their research activities.
Sumanth is currently an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the Braley-Orlick Chair in Advanced Manufacturing at McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. He is presently establishing the Centre for Solidification Thermal Processing (CSTP) at McMaster University to advance the fundamentals and practices of metal processing. He has also an ongoing working relationship with MPI and will continue to jointly advance the frontiers of net shape metal processing research.
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