The National Metallurgical Laboratory

The National Metallurgical Laboratory, the third in the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) family of 38 laboratories. The foundation stone of NML was laid on 21.11.1946 by the first and only Governor General of independent India, Shri C.Rajagopalachari. The laboratory was formally inaugurated and dedicated to the nation on the 26th of November, 1950 by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru " in a sprit of hope and I faith in the future". The laboratory formed part of the great plan, which Sir Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar visualised in 1940, for providing India with a network of research institutes capable of taking the country forward in the Science & Technology. The establishment of the laboratory was generously supported, in cash and kind, by the Tata Industries Ltd., Sir Ratan Tata Trust and Sardar Bahadur Sir Inder Singh of Indian Steel and Wire Products (ISWP) Company. Dr. Balraj Nijhawan, the first Indian Director of the laboratory, set the pace for the rapid growth of the laboratory through the establishment of a number of pilot plants and facilities and initiating research programmes which were in line with the Five Years Plans of the young Republic of India. NML has one Centre at Chennai

Objective To innovate, develop, transfer and standardise and provide specialised services such as Research and Development, Technology Transfer, consultancy and standards and quality to support the scientific and industrial growth and success in the areas of Metals, Minerals and Advanced Materials, by putting our experienced team of scientists and engineers and wealth of state-of-the art technology and facilities to work. Mandate The Laboratory envisions a progressive enhancement of its resources, generation and acquisition of 'Intellectual Property Assets' and strives to maximise the business of R&D meeting the customer requirements through maintenance of sustainable growth Areas of R&D Activities Industrial Processes Mineral Beneficiaiton, Extraction of Metals, Development of Refractories / Ceramics, Process Optimisation and Modelling; Engineering Materials Synthesis and Development of Materials, Materials Forming Processes, Materials Characterisation Resource and Environment Conservation Waste Utilization, Secondary Metal Processing, Corrosion and Protection, Component Integrity Evaluation (CIEP) / Remaining Life Assessment (RLA), Pollution Control; Scientific and Technical Services Chemical Analysis, Material Characterisation, Testing and Evaluation, Failure Analysis, Engineering Consultancy, Calibration, Standard Reference Materials, Training & Certification, Hall Marking, R & D Management and IP acquisition Field of Interest Research and Development, Technology Development & transfer, Consultancy, Scientific and Technical Services in the area of Minerals, Metals & Materials Specialised Expertise Characterisation of minerals and ores. Methodologies for beneficiation of precious metal bearing lean ores. Design of transportable mineral characterisation facility and beneficiation plant for precious metal bearing lean ores. Bio-technologies for mineral beneficiaiton and metal extraction. Solvent extraction / exchange technologies for the extraction of trace metals. Improved technologies for common metals and development of alloys for specific applications. Technologies for nuclear grade magnesium metal and development of magnesium alloys. Innovative technologies for titanium extraction, and development of titanium alloys. Application of Mechano chemistry concepts for controlling materials processing and improving the materials properties. Advanced manufacturing techniques like technology of squeeze casting, and bulk amorphous alloys and wide amorphous ribbons. A comprehensive expertise based on property optimisation by surface modifications and coating. A comprehensive expertise base on surface characterisation. Single window based technology for engineering critical analysis. A web based comprehensive database on remaining life assessment and extension. A portable mechanical property determination equipment. Comprehensive characterisation of concrete materials and structures by non-destructive testing and evaluation. Electro-magnetic acoustic transducer for non-contraction destructive testing. Computational facility and expertise base for modelling, signal analysis and risk analysis Nano particle technology through bio mimetic route Prevention of material degradation and environmental pollution. Water testing and evaluation laboratory water and effluent treatment. Pursue research in the area of micro- and nano- size bubble generation by novel methods and its application to flotation and waste treatment processes. Thermodynamic Modelling and Computational Thermodynamics. On nano-synthesis through electrochemical techniques and attrition milling. Materials and processing methods for intermediate temperature fuel cells. Certified Reference Materials Hall Marking Scientific and Technical Services Corrosion and its control: XRF, DRS AAS, XRD, UVРspectrometer, Poximate Analyzer, C&S Determinator Polarization Behavior, Salt Spray Test chamber, Impedance System, Stress Corrosion, Inhibitors. Iron-making Raw Material Characterization : Reducibility, Thermal Degradation, Softening Characterization, Linder Test Apparatus, Ash Fusion Furnace. Materials Characterization : Optical, SEM, TEM, AFM, DTA/DTG, DSC, Pneumatic, Thermal, and Electrical Properties Measurement. Non-Destructive Testing and Evaluation: Ultrasonic Flow Detector, Acoustic Emission, Portable Hardness Tester, Magna-Flux, In-situ Metallography, Spectrum Analyser. Mechanical Properties : CREEP Testing, Tensile/Bending, Fatigue, Impact, Servo-hydraulic Testing. Calibration : Temperature upto 1200C, Pressure: Pneumatic: upto 10 bar Hydraulic upto 25 bar. (i) Electric Parameter + 1000V; +10A; 30mohm; 330 Mineral Beneficiation : Bench and pilot plant scale Hydrocyclone, Perm Roll Magnetic Separator, Bartlex-Mozley Unit, Flotation Cell, Particle Size Analyzer, Image Analyzer, Mineral Microstructure Characterization and Mechanical Behavior. Pyrometallurgical stems Submerged Arc Furnace (50 KVA), Rotary Kiln, other Melting Units (Arc, Induction, Resistance Furnaces), 60 kg Vacuum Furnace Materials Shaping: Rolling Mill, Forging Unit, Wire Drawing Unit Extrusion Press Pilot Plant: Mineral Beneficiation Facilities (0.5е t/hr), Vertical Retort Direct Reduction Unit (300 tpa), 500 KVA Submerged Arc Furnace, Sea Nodules Processing plant Computational Modeling and Simulation: CFD Codes, Phoenix, Fluent, FEM Codes; ANSYS & ABACUS, Numerical scientific softwares: Mathematica, NAG Library PARAM 10000 with Adv. Version of Pheonix with parallel processing features, dedicated Server: email internet, LAN, Gateway etc.