Mettle
The technical advancement of a nation depends upon material development. This is largely affected by the material scientists/metallurgists which in turn relies on the technical institutes & exposure. One such case is the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering (MME), NIT Tiruchirappalli (NITT) which was established in 1967, merely 3 years after the foundation of NITT. Since then it has been one of the exclusive centers of excellence in the field of MME. Along with a program for undergrads it offers 3 post-graduate programs: Welding Engineering, Industrial metallurgy & Material Science & Engineering. In addition to this, it has been admitting candidates for M.S. & Ph.D. programs with the institute fellowship. It’s a privilege to get an admission in MME which offers only around 60 seats globally in the UG program every year. With the theme of Mettle’2020 being released i.e. “Entropy”, let’s take a look back into the brief history of Mettle — The Annual National level Technical Symposium of NIT Trichy, organized under the aegis of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Association (MMEA).
The vision of Mettle:
To grow into a globally established symposium in the field of Metallurgy & Material Science.
Mission:
- To offer live hands-on industrial experience through workshops.
- To carry out awareness regarding Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
- To guide future metallurgists.
Mettle through last few years:
Mettle’15
March 9–10
Theme: Fabricating future
Mettle’16
March 12–13
Theme: Innovation driven
Mettle’17 (Golden Jubilee)
March: 24–26
Theme: Manufacturing materials
Along with a couple of online contests prior to the symposium, in the 2017 version of mettle, we had an array of events and workshops. Further, there were some guest lectures followed by an exclusive panel discussion on “Metallurgy then and now”. The panel shared their views on topics like the evolution of metallurgy, career guidance through career roadmaps, tackling drift of students from MME to other fields and so on.
EVENTS
· Failure investigation
· Metallica
· Check your skills
GUEST LECTURES
· Light-weighting approaches materials perspective by Mr. Sandur Ajith Kumar
· High strength aluminum alloys in defense industries by Mr. RS Kambali
· 3D printed steel by Dr. Parasuram Swaminathan
WORKSHOPS
· Automotive component testing and failure analysis
· Spark plasma sintering
· Steels for automobiles
· Advanced welding
ONLINE CONTESTS
· Shutter- Online photography contest
· Futura- Science-fiction writing contest.
Mettle’18
January: 26–28
Theme: Energy
2018 edition of mettle began with the inauguration of MMEA on 16th September 2017 which also featured a guest lecture by Dr. Suresh Kumar, LPSC (ISRO).
On 27th October MMEA conducted the Metallurgical awareness drive a.k.a MAD campaign in various schools across Trichy & Thanjavur to enlighten the students on material science and encouraged them to get involved in that. Slo-gun an online slogan writing contest was also organized later, after the mettle’18 theme — “Energy” was disclosed. On 26th January 2018 Mettle’18 was inaugurated by chief guest of the occasion, Shri K Mahendran-
AGM (SSTP), BHEL. The next day a Guns & Rifles exhibition was presented by the title sponsor Ordnance Factory Tiruchirappalli (OFT).
Mettle’19
January: 25–27
In the 2019 edition, MMEA inauguration was completed on 19th September by Dr. RK Gupta, Scientist (VSSC) ISRO with the release of 1st ever issue of the MMEA newsletter. This newsletter included many informative articles like Ultra-wear resistant Pt-Au alloy, Graphene: single layer anti-corrosion coating, etc. It also contained a “Professor’s Corner” article on Dr. S Kumaran of the MME dept. & the research projects that are undertaken by him, along with a long list of achievements and publications. Another issue of the MMEA newsletter featured insight on DAAD scholarship by an intern of MME at the University of Stuttgart, Germany which was released on December 4. The newsletter also had an article on “Professor’s Corner” starring Dr. Kumaresh Babu of the MME dept., his contributions to industrial & research projects and achievements in addition to other articles. December 7, 2018, was the first time mettle posted on Instagram which revealed the Mettle’19 logo. Another Mettle another exhibition by OFT showcasing assault rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers and much more.
EVENTS
· Case study
· IIM quiz
· Grey gym
· Metallurgical minute & many more
WORKSHOPS
· Automotive workshop
· Computational workshop
· NDT workshop & many more
GUEST LECTURES
· By Mr. A Marudhamuthu
· Dr. RK Gupta
ONLINE CONTESTS
· Lensational, on the eve of World photography day
· Terribly Tiny Tales, on the eve of world literacy day
Mettle’20
The MMEA inauguration and formation of the core team for Mettle’20 have already been accomplished. This term we also included two interactive intern talk sessions for the students: Phase-α and β. Guest lectures on “Entrepreneurship in the domain of Metallurgy and “Atom probe tomography & Electron backscatter diffraction” were presented by Dr. Pramod Kangutkar and Dr. KG Pradeep respectively. On the occasion of National Metallurgist Day, the Mettle’20 theme was released: ENTROPY.
So get your mind and body prepared & let’s live up to the definition of Mettle: Spirit & Resilience this January.
