Newsletter Archives; Fall 1996

The Defense Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL) and the Defense Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) in Hyderabad, India were the hosts of Professor M. Ramulu during his sabbatical from September 1995 through March 1996. The sabbatical included mutual exchanges of ideas and knowledge in teaching and research as well as fostering professional interaction.

Professor Ramulu, who is internationally recognized in the areas of manufacturing processes, fatigue, and fracture mechanics and is well-known for his enthusiastic and effective teaching, taught several courses at various sites during his sabbatical. He instructed scientists at DMRL in Fracture and Fatigue of Materials Divisions on the course, "Introduction to Finite Element Analysis." At the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), he presented to scientists and practicing engineers of process industries a one-day short course on "Fracture Mechanics: Basic Principles and Applications to Process Industries."

Water jet (including abrasive water jets) technology was the focus of invited seminars which Professor Ramulu presented at DMRL, Nuclear Fuel Complex, Osmania University, and Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University. He provided a one-day lecture/discussion on "Recent Developments in Machining Advanced Composites," at DRDL and "Developments of Experimental Techniques in Dynamic Fracture Mechanics" at Bharath Heavy Electricals Limited.

Teaching methods and curriculum development were the focus of a workshop, "Needs Analysis in Mechanical Engineering", conducted at Osmania University by the All India Council for Technical Education at which Professor Ramulu was an invited speaker. At this workshop, Professor Ramulu inaugurated the proceedings and was the focus of a national news item.

In research, Professor Ramulu availed himself of the excellent facilities at DMRL and DRDL to lay the groundwork for future research efforts. In particular he was able to enhance his skills in microstuctural characterization of advanced composite materials. Some of the broader projects included wire electrical discharge machining (EDM) and abrasive water jet cutting effects on the mechanical behavior of ceramic composites, mixed mode (modes I and III) crack propagation, microstructural and in-situ crack evaluation processes in aluminum-lithium (Al-Li) alloys.

Finally, Professor Ramulu was honored during his professional participation as one of only ten invited lecturers worldwide at the "International Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering" in Bangalore, at which he presented the paper "Machining and Surface Integrity of Fibre Reinforced Plastics."

Professor Ramulu was not alone while on his sabbatical. His wife, Vinati, and three children, Manaswi, Soumya, and Mourya also shared the experience. When asked to briefly summarize his experience, he said, with a characteristic twinkle in his eye, "It was an enormous amount of work, but we all learned a lot. That is the important thing."