Friction Stir Casting Modification for Enhanced Structural Efficiency

Dr. Saumyadeep Jana, a staff scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, works in the area of friction stir welding and processing of various ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. Dr. Jana, a metallurgical engineer by training and profession, studies the correlation between microstructure, joint properties, and processing conditions. Dissimilar metal joining through friction stir welding (FSW), high strength low alloy (HSLA) steel FSW development, aluminum alloy casting modification through friction stir are some of the works Dr. Jana has been greatly involved with. Dr. Jana earned his Ph.D. in Metallurgical Engineering from Missouri University of Science & Technology, Rolla in 2009. During his Ph.D., Dr. Jana investigated the effects of friction stir processing on the fatigue behavior of an automotive grade cast aluminum alloy. To date, Dr. Jana has nine peer-reviewed journal publications and one U.S. patent to his credit. His total citation record stands at 394 with an h-index of 7. Prof. Rajiv Mishra (Ph.D. in Metallurgy from University of Sheffield) is a Regents Professor at the University of North Texas and founder of Optimus Alloys LLC. He is a Fellow of ASM International. He is a past-chair of the Structural Materials Division of TMS and served on the TMS Board of Directors (2013-16). He has authored/co-authored more than 450 papers in peer-reviewed journals and proceedings and is principal inventor of four U.S. patents. His current Google Scholar h-index is 95 and his papers have been cited more than 43000 times. He has co-authored three books; (1) Friction Stir Welding and Processing, (2) Metallurgy and Design of Alloys with Hierarchical Microstructures, (3) High Entropy Materials: Processing, Properties, and Applications. He has edited or co-edited fifteen TMS conference proceedings. He was an associate editor of Journal of Materials Processing Technology and is the founding editor of a short book series on Friction Stir Welding and Processing published by Elsevier and has co-authored seven short books in this series. He is a recipient of TMS-SMD Distinguished Scientist Award in 2020 and TMS-MPMD Distinguished Scientist Award in 2024. He is an adjunct professor in the department of Materials Science and Engineering at North Carolina State University. Most recently, he has founded Optimus Alloys LLC for commercialization of research efforts and serves as the Chief Scientific Advisor. Optimus Alloys is focused on process-specific alloy design for additive manufacturing of high-performance components.

Glenn Grant is a Senior Staff Scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. His research focus is on the formability, joining, and manufacturing of materials for industrial applications, and in the development of new solid state joining and processing technologies for advanced materials for future energy applications including power generation, hydrocarbon and chemical transport and processing. Mr. Grant has been researching and developing Friction Stir Welding and Processing at the lab since 1997 and during that time has completed numerous studies with industrial partners on the performance of Friction Stir Processed surfaces for improved properties. He currently leads a portfolio of projects investigating Friction Stir Joining and Processing as a new manufacturing technology, and leads programs in solid state compaction and processing of new materials for high temperature and high performance applications. Mr. Grant has over 20 publications on solid state joining and processing and over 29 years' experience in the microstructural and mechanical characterization of materials and in the exploration of process/property relationships.