At NML, material joining group is focused on  joining of materials by different techniques like:   

Liquid phase Diffusion Bonding  

 (1) Cu to different contact materials, (2) Cu to Cu/steel/non-ferrous metals, (3) Alumina to Alumina/Silicon, (4)Carbide/Steel/Cu, (5) Graphite to graphite/Steel/Cu

Solid state Diffusion Bonding

High Carbon/ high Mn Steel to high alloy steel and other variety of steels

Soldering

Development of lead free solders for electronic packaging

Friction Stir Welding (FSW)

(1)  Al/ Al-alloys to Al/ Al-alloys, (2) Al/ Al-alloys to steel and (3)  Ferrous to ferrous alloys  

Current research projects

FSW of dissimilar Al-alloys and 304SS to Al-alloys for Aerospace & Automotive applications

Advanced joining techniques for high performance steels including friction stir welding

Major Achievements

Filler metals development: Cu, Ag, Ni based alloys; active filler alloys containing Ti for ceramic materials joining

Lead free Solders: Sn-Cu-Ag, Sn-Cu-Ag-In, Sn-Cu-Ag-Ni

Low cost FSW equipment, Design & fabrication of  carbide and ceramic tool-shoulder for FSW     

Major Facilities  

(i) Joining / bonding facilities such as (a) high temperature graphite resistance furnace, (b) high vacuum brazing furnace(HVBF), (ii)     Joint characterization facilities: (a) different type of mechanical testing facilities including shear tests, tensile test, micro and nano-indentation for determining joint quality, (b) microstructural characterization by SEM-EDS, EPMA, XRD, TEM etc.