Empowering Made in India for Defence with Materials Science
Published on : Wednesday 07-08-2024
Materials science and engineering have emerged as the key enabler to attain self-reliance, says SubbuVenkatachalam.
Self-sufficiency has a direct link to strong prowess and capability in indigenous manufacturing. However, to be truly impactful, manufacturing cannot be viewed in isolation. It has to consider the source of raw materials, sustained innovation through R&D, and more importantly, the expertise to enable an entire ecosystem. The sphere that makes all these positive interconnections is materials science and engineering. By going to the granular level in every aspect, it is helping India’s strategic sectors such as defence and aerospace finally come into their own.
Connecting the dots
Materials science and engineering have emerged as the key enabler to attain self-reliance. This is especially true in strategic sectors such as defence and aerospace. Leading domestic players in the field such as CUMI, with their legacy and deep expertise, are playing a pivotal role here. They are helping to connect the dots across the ecosystem. Firstly, they are producing critical raw materials by being backward integrated. Second, they are pursuing continued innovations through R&D as well as collaborations with government, industry and academia partners. Thirdly, they are facilitating original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to engineer cutting-edge futuristic defence systems for the sector. Lastly, by enabling self-sufficiency in sector-critical materials, they are helping India accelerate towards its ambition of emerging as a global manufacturing and export hub for defence.
Raw material advantage
The field of defence requires cutting-edge components with exceptional capabilities. As an example, body armour must be engineered with the most advanced materials to enable highest ballistic protection. It requires ergonomic, extremely lightweight, customisable design. Most importantly, it should allow easy manoeuvrability.
Technical ceramics such as Reaction Bonded Silicon Carbide (RBSiC), high purity Alumina, and Zirconia Toughened Alumina are currently among the most preferred for armouring solutions. To build the tiles and segments for body armour, predictable raw material supply at an affordable price is key. Imports come with a hefty price tag, leading to a compromise in the material type and grade. This, in turn, deflates the entire objective of highest protection for our military personnel.
Relying on premium materials sourced and processed domestically is the first step to attaining self-sufficiency. By being backward integrated, leading players in materials science and engineering such as CUMI are helping to address several key challenges. Primarily, they are bridging supply gaps, especially in defence-critical unavailable materials through local production. This has ensured that premium-grade materials are affordably available for strategic applications.
Pursuing collaborative innovation
Materials science leaders are helping build the future of protective defence systems through rigorous innovation. Setting up state-of-the-art labs to pursue research into new-age materials in-house and through ecosystem partnerships is driving excellence in the field. For instance, the ‘wonder material’ graphene has shown immense promise for several applications in defence and aerospace. But it needs deeper, more active research to enable large-scale commercialisation. To realise graphene’s immense potential, CUMI entered into a collaborative partnership with the Digital University of Kerala in 2023. The aim is to setup a Centre of Excellence for further research into the nanomaterial. This is in addition to CUMI’s own hi-tech 12,000 sqftfacility equipped to exclusively manufacture various grades of graphene and allied products.
At the industry level, CUMI's journey with PLUSS Advanced Technologies is an example of successful collaboration with startups. A subsidiary of CUMI since 2021, PLUSS has done pioneering work in the field of materials science with Phase Change Materials (PCMs). PCMs help protect our soldiers manning the borders in some of the harshest environments. Innovations for defence include wearable tech such as jackets that provide thermal comfort, portable med kits to transport essential life-saving drugs, sustainable accommodation for soldiers serving in remote areas, and non-fossil fuel-based refrigeration solutions for trucks to transport perishable food products and medicines.
By working closely with public agencies such as DRDO, CUMI is able to engineer made-to-order products that equip our military forces with future-ready protective gear.
Designing the future
Materials science welcomed the future when they moved from metal armour to advanced ceramics and hybrid composites. From Reaction Bonded Silicon Carbide, high-purity Alumina, Zirconia Toughened Alumina and composites such as Reaction Bonded Silicon Carbide + Boron Carbide – these exceptionally lightweight yet super tough materials can be precisely designed as tiles/segments and laid out to form customised panels. When integrated with suitable materials, such body armour can protect against any ballistic threats.
Moreover, with manufacturers applying for stringent global certifications such as STANAG and NIJ, these materials are globally benchmarked. Therefore, they are qualified as world-class for supply globally. For instance, CUMI’s ceramic-based ballistic protection materials have been designed to meet threat levels conforming to the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) ‘Level IV’ and STANAG Level 3 global standards.
Similarly, take the case of graphene-reinforced structural components for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. They offer superior mechanical properties at the same weight or lighter weight than traditional CFRP composite components.
By being first-movers, pioneers in materials science are enabling OEMs to continually develop advanced, best-in-class equipment for defence and aerospace.
Defence-critical focus
Focused government campaigns such as ‘Make in India’ and ‘AtmaNirbhar Bharat’ along with several production-linked schemes have sought to accelerate self-sufficiency. This has led to growing demand for domestic procurement of defence-critical materials. Currently, India is completely import-dependent for many strategic materials, one of them being Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ). India is among the top countries witnessing fast-growing demand for YSZ for civil and military requirements. YSZ is the primary material for thermal spray coatings and thermal barrier coatings, key to protect hot sections of aircraft engines, maintain and overhaul critical components, and in space launch vehicles. Its superior thermal stability helps to significantly enhance the durability of vital components, avoiding recurrent and steep repair and replacement costs.
As one of the few manufacturers of YSZ in India, CUMI is helping bridge supply gaps for this strategic material and thus reduce import dependence. A wide-ranging approach is helping to address this on a priority footing – by scaling up supply to meet fast-growing demand, strengthening our R&D focus, expanding collaborations for greater innovation in indigenisation, and partnering with smaller vendors and integrators to bolster the domestic supply chain.
While adequately fulfilling domestic demand, this will also enable India to be export-positive, consolidating its position as a strategic defence partner globally.
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Conclusion
With a macro view of the industry and the ability to energise the complete value chain – right from securing supply, certifying raw material quality, component engineering, to ushering in the ‘materials of the future’ through R&D, materials science has emerged as the real enabler of ‘Make in India’ and self-reliance in defence and aerospace.
Subbu Venkatachalam is the global head of marketing at Carborundum Universal Limited (CUMI), a leading materials sciences engineering solutions provider and part of the 120-year-old Murugappa Group. With the emphasis on Aatmanirbhar Bharat across industries, especially in the aerospace and defence sector and new global innovations in the materials space, CUMI finds itself on the cusp of a massive growth drive.
Subbu is passionate about enabling CUMI’s ambitious growth plans through sustained brand-building and marketing efforts across key markets and sectors across India and the globe.
Prior to this, he spent nine years at Royal Enfield (A unit of Eicher Motors Ltd) in various roles that spanned marketing, corporate strategy, and planning.
Subbu holds a BSc (Hon) in Business Administration from the University of Bath, United Kingdom. In his free time, Subbu enjoys sports such as equestrian, cricket, football, and tennis. He is a member of the Chennai Equitation Centre and the Gold Standard, Blue Sky Cricket League, Chennai.
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