Background

Bala (also known as Vaidhy) attained a B.Sc in Physics from Bharathiar University and an M.Sc in Materials Science from PSG College of Technology and a Ph.D in Solid State & Structural Chemistry from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. He spent three years Post Doctoral Fellowship at the Materials Research Laboratory of the Pennsylvania State University, USA and then joined Loughborough University, UK as a Senior Research Associate. He worked as a Lead-Scientist in General Electric Corporation - Global Research (GE-GRC) between 2004-06 before joining the Department of Materials as a Lecturer in September 2006.

Qualifications

• BSc, Bharathiar University
• MSc, PSG college of Technology
• PhD, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
• FHEA, MIMMM, MACerS

Key awards

• Awarded K.P. Abraham Gold Medal for Best Doctoral Thesis from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore,1998
• Twice the recipient of the Inventor Incentive Award by the Penn State Research Foundation, 2000 & 2002
• Bronze Medal for Innovation from GE Global Research Corporation, 2006.
• Glory of India Award from The India International Friendship Society for contributions in the field of Science, Technology and Education for the year 2010.
• Verulam Medal and prize from IOM³, for distinguished contributions to ceramic materials, 2015
• Pfeil Award for the best paper in ceramics field, IOM³, 2017

Additional information

Co-ordinating the Loughborough-Asia Materials Partnership (LAMP) programme to promote teaching & research links with India.

Outline of main research interests

• Functional Ceramics, Nanocrystalline materials, Electroceramics, Microwave processing, Microwave-materials interactions, Flash Sintering, Microwave Cold Sintering
• Glasses, Functional coatings, SOFCs
• Materials for batteries and Hydrogen generation
• Ceramics for bio-medical applications
• Powder synthesis, Sol-gel methods
• Additive manufacturing of ceramics
• Smart materials for sensing, security and sports

Current and recent grants and contracts (with others)

42 grants totalling in excess of £12.2M over the last six years including;

• 2008-2011         Nanostructured Advanced Ceramics (NASTRAC), TSB/EPSRC, £259.9k
• 2009-2012         Ultra High Temperature Ceramics,  DSTL/MoD, £354.1k
• 2009-2013         Understanding and Improving Ceramic Armour Materials, EPSRC, £415.9k
• 2011-2014         Zirconia Ceramics as an enabling material for biomedical implants (ZIRCIMP), TSB, £210k
• 2014-2017         Advanced Nano materials and Structures for Superior Implants (Nanoplants) EPSRC, £358k
• 2013-2017         Microwave assisted catalytic treatment of agricultural waste water (MICROCAT) TSB, £124k
• 2015-2016         Microwave assisted manufacturing of footwear parts, Industry, £161k
• 2015-2020         Synthesising 3D Metamaterials for RF, microwave and THz applications (SYMETA), EPSRC, £4M
• 2017-2020         High Temperature Piezoelectrics for automotive and aerospace applications, Innovate UK, £253k
• 2017-2020         Urban Albedo Computation in High Altitude Locations: An Experimental Approach, EPSRC, £202k

Current teaching responsibilities

• MPP353 Electronic Materials
• MPA020 Engineering Materials
• MPA102 Experimentation
• MPC102 Fracture and Failure
• MPP137 Overview of Packaging Materials
• MPP141 Materials Selection for Design

Current administrative responsibilities

• Chair of School Industrial Placement (DIS) Committee
• Member of School Research and Teaching Committees
• Advisory Group member for SRS Research Challenge

Gheisari, R., Chamberlain, H., Chi-Tangyie, G., Zhang, S., Goulas, A., Lee, C.-K., Whittaker, T., Wang, D., Ketharam, A., Ghosh, A., Vaidhyanathan, B., Whittow, W., Cadman, D., Vardaxoglou, Y.C., Reaney, I.M., Engstrøm, D.S. (2020) Multi-material additive manufacturing of low sintering temperature Bi2Mo2O9 ceramics with Ag floating electrodes by selective laser burnout. Virtual and Physical Prototyping, 15(2). 10.1080/17452759.2019.1708026

Rowlands, W., Vaidhyanathan, B. (2019) Additive manufacturing of barium titanate based ceramic heaters with positive temperature coefficient of resistance (PTCR). Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 39(12). 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2019.03.024

Saremi-Yarahmadi, S., Binner, J., Vaidhyanathan, B. (2018) Erosion and mechanical properties of hydrothermally-resistant nanostructured zirconia components. Ceramics International, 44(9). 10.1016/j.ceramint.2018.03.074

Anshuman, A., Saremi-Yarahmadi, S., Vaidhyanathan, B. (2018) Enhanced catalytic performance of reduced graphene oxide-TiO2 hybrids for efficient water treatment using microwave irradiation. RSC Advances, 8(14). 10.1039/c8ra00031j

Paul, A., Binner, J.G.P., Vaidhyanathan, B., Heaton, A.C.J., Brown, P.M. (2016) Heat flux mapping of oxyacetylene flames and their use to characterise Cf-HfB2 composites. Advances in Applied Ceramics, 115(3). 10.1080/17436753.2015.1104050

Huang, S., Binner, J.G.P., Vaidhyanathan, B., Todd, R.I. (2014) Quantitative analysis of the residual stress and dislocation density distributions around indentations in alumina and zirconia toughened alumina (ZTA) ceramics. Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 34(3). 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2013.09.021

Ghanizadeh, S., Bao, X., Vaidhyanathan, B., Binner, J. (2014) Synthesis of nano α-alumina powders using hydrothermal and precipitation routes: A comparative study. Ceramics International, 40(1). 10.1016/j.ceramint.2013.07.011

External collaborators

• Syfer Technology Ltd (also known as Knowles Corporation)
• Dynamic Ceramic
• MEL Chemicals
• Rolls Royce
• Cochlear
• Littelfuse Ireland Ltd.
• Morgan Advanced Materials
• BorgWarner BERU Systems
• Texan Management Ltd.
• Dyson Ltd.

External roles and appointments

Editor: Advances in Applied Ceramics (AAC), 2015-present; Editorial board membership of Journal of Materials: Design and Applications; Webmaster & Member, IoM3 Ceramic Science Committee, 2007-present; Member IoM3 Defense, Safety and Security Committee, 2012-present; Member, American and Indian Ceramics Societies, 2004-present; Management Committee Member, Association for Microwave Power Research and Education in Europe (AMPERE) 2003-present; Associate Fellow, Institute of Nanotechnology; Member, Structural Ceramics Network (SCERN) & Materials KTN - UK, 2007-present; Personal Chair with the title, Professor of Advanced Materials and Processing.