Kamachi Mudali | VIT University (original) (raw)

Dr. U. Kamachi Mudali is an internationally renowned materials and corrosion specialist with nearly four decades of R&D, industry and academic expertise. He was formerly Distinguished Scientist of DAE, and Chief Executive & Chairman of Heavy Water Board, a flagship industrial unit of DAE during 2017-2020. Currently he is Vice Chancellor of VIT Bhopal University and is also Honorary Professor of Practice at IIT Madras.
At Heavy Water Board, Dr. Mudali has made pioneering contributions to: (i) Non-nuclear applications of heavy water (HW) and Oxygen-18 for societal & healthcare; (ii) Production of specialty materials (Na, BF3 gas, enriched B4C, organic solvents) for INPP and fuel cycle; and (iii) New initiatives for industrial production of DDW, Rare metals, Co, Ga, H2, He etc.
During his tenure at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam during 1984 to 2017, Dr. Mudali held many positions and finally served as Group Director of Materials Chemistry and Metal Fuel Cycle. As an accomplished team leader of high repute, Dr. Mudali has made pioneering contributions towards: (i) Establishing first time High Nitrogen Stainless Steels through sustained R&D since 1984 and production in large quantity with Indian industries for Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) and reprocessing plants, (ii) Setting up alloy casting facility for developing bulk metallic glass and high entropy alloys for nitric acid service, (iii) Developing superhydrophobic, thermal barrier and nanostructured coating technologies for sea water & chloride, high temperature molten salt, high concentration boiling nitric acid environments, (iv) Surface engineering and modification of ferrous and titanium alloys using Laser, Ion beam and Chemical methods for enhancing corrosion resistance, (v) Long term corrosion assessment and life estimation using nitric acid loops made of 304L SS and Zircaloy, (vi) Innovative corrosion testing and evaluation using elelctrochemical impedance & noise, insitu electrochemical AFM and Scanning electrochemical microscopy. In addition, Dr. Mudali has significantly contributed to R&D on non-metallic materials, chemical process and innovative equipment development for reprocessing applications. He was actively involved in failure analysis, consultancy, corrosion audit & survey of DAE plants and other industries, and societal contributions towards biomaterials and coatings development for orthopedic devices, and ancient metallurgy studies on Delhi Iron Pillar and South Indian Bronzes.
Dr. Mudali is recognised in the World’s Top 2% scientists from India in the field of Materials and has 468 Journal publications, 22 edited Books, 5 patents, 275 Honour Lectures, and 10370 citations with a h-index of 46 and i-10 index of 252. Dr. Mudali has guided/coordinated UG, PG and PhD theses of 162 students from various academic institutions. He is Chief Editor of Journal of Electrochemical Society of India and Editor-in Chief of IIM-Springer Book Series, and CII-Corrosion Management Committee Booklet Series. He is Trustee (2021-2024) of Board of ASM International, USA, Fellow of 12 professional associations including 3 from abroad, and Honorary Member of Indian Institute of Metals (IIM) and UDCT Alumni Association, Mumbai. Dr. Mudali is decorated with several distinguished recognitions including Distinguished Alumnus Award from both IIT Bombay where he did M.Tech (Corrosion Sci & Engg.) in 1984, and PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, where he did MSc (Materials Sci.) in 1982; Metallurgists of the Year Award from Government of India & Indian Institute of Metals (IIM) &, and GD Birla Gold Medal and Platinum Medal from IIM; Tamilnadu Scientist Award; MASCOT National Award; VASVIK Award; Indian Nuclear Society Medal; Distinguished Faculty Award from HBNI University; AICTE-INAE Distinguished Visiting Professorship by INAE; Homi Bhabha Science and Technology Award of DAE; Group Achievement Award from DAE (5 times); ONGC Excellence & Meritorious Awards in Corrosion from NACE India and NCCI, Karaikudi; Frank Newman Speller Award of NACE International, USA, the highest recognition and first Indian to get in the field of Corrosion.
Dr. Mudali was Visiting Scientist and widely travelled in USA, Germany, Russia, France, UK, Japan, China, Malaysia, Israel, Bulgaria, Canada, and Singapore. Dr. Mudali has provided leadership and expertise as Chairman to Committee on Strengthening Recycling of E-waste (NITI Aayog, GoI); MTD24-Corrosion Protection and Finishes Committee of BIS; and, Corrosion Management Committee of CII, Chandigarh. As President he has led Indian Institute of Metals; Electrochemical Society of India; and, NIGIS South Zone. As Chairman he has led East Asia Pacific Area & Indian Section of the National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE), USA; ASM International, Chennai Chapter; Electrochemical Society of India, Bengaluru; and, Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers-MRC, Mumbai.

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