ABOUT
Naresh Thadhani is Professor and past Chair of the School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) at Georgia Tech (GT). After serving as School Chair over two five-year terms from 2012-2022, he worked on a 12-month Jefferson Science Fellow assignment with the U.S. State Department Bureau of Overseas Building Operations providing materials subject matter expertise for the design, construction and maintenance of embassies and consulates addressing challenges of extreme and often competing environmental, security, geopolitical, and diplomatic considerations.
Professor Thadhani is recognized for his research on the fundamental mechanisms of shock-induced physical, chemical, and mechanical changes in materials, including their deformation and fracture behaviors under extreme conditions of high-velocity impact and high strain rate deformation. He has led the understanding of shock-induced phase transformations and mechanical properties in advanced steels, bulk metallic glasses and additively manufactured materials; design, development, and characterization of structural energetic materials; and interactions of shock waves with heterogeneities in composite (solid) and granular (powder) materials. He has built one-of-a-kind state-of-the-art high strain rate gas-gun and laser-driven impact experiments laboratory combining mesoscale spatial and nanosecond resolution temporal diagnostics, and mesoscale computational simulation capabilities.
Professor Thadhani’s recent projects include experimental investigations of pressure induced phase transformations on shock energy dissipation and their subsequent influence of spall failure in ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. He is also investigating the initiation and kinetics of chemical reactions in highly exothermic intermetallic forming mixtures driven by macro-scale shear and micro-scale instabilities introduced by local perturbations. His work on sustainable manufacturing includes hydrogen-based direct reduction of iron oxide to fabricate net-shaped Advanced Steels, with net-zero CO2 emissions and using lower-quality ores and tailings.
Professor Thadhani has advised 15 visiting scientists/post-docs; more than 30 Ph.D and 18 M.S degree students; and mentored 60+ undergraduate student researchers. He has attracted research funding from various federal agencies including the AFOSR, ARO, DARPA, DTRA, ONR, NNSA/SSAA, NSF, as well as the DoE and DoD national laboratories and industries. He has co-edited 12 books/proceedings, published more than 200 refereed journal papers (including several invited review articles), 173 papers in conference proceedings, and presented more than 170 invited talks and seminars. He has served (or is serving) on National Academies’ panel for review of the Army Research Laboratory, critical review of Materials programs at numerous Universities, External Advisory Boards of Materials departments at Clemson University and the University of Tennessee, Board of Directors of the Wire Association International, and as a consultant to several industries and the U.S. Department of State.
Professor Thadhani is recipient of the National Academies’ Jefferson Science Fellowship and the TMS Leadership award. He is an elected Fellow of ASM International and the American Physical Society, and Academician of the EuroMediterranean Academy of Arts and Sciences.
PUBLICATIONS & PATENTS
(2020-2024)
• B.C. Hornbuckle, R.K. Koju, G. Kennedy, P. Jannoti, N. Lorenzo, J.T. Lloyd, A. Giri, K. Solanki, N.N. Thadhani, Y. Mishin, K.A. Darling, “Direct Observation of Deformation and Resistance to Damage Accumulation during Shock Loading of Stabilized Nanocrystalline Cu-Ta Alloys,” Nature Communications, 15, Article number: 9135 (2024).
• K G. Frawley, L. Chen, H. Tran, N. N. Thadhani, and R. Ramprasad, “Accuracy of Classical Force Fields for Polyethylene Structures Away from Equilibrium,” MRS Communications, 14(1) 2024.
• V. Joshi and N. N. Thadhani, “Process Mechanisms and Variables, Journal of Dynamic Behavior of Materials, Vol. 10, Issue 4, pp. 390-404, July 2024
• R. O. Diaz; D. Scripka; D. Hofmann; N.N.Thadhani, “Dynamic fracture kinetics of titanium-based bulk metallic glass and its composites,” Journal of Dynamic Behavior of Materials, Vol. 10, Issue 4, p. 349, October 2024.
• A. Marnot, K. Koube, S. Jang, N. Thadhani, J. Kacher & B. Brettmann, “Material extrusion additive manufacturing of high particle loaded suspensions: a review of materials, processes and challenges,” Virtual and Physical Prototyping, 18:1, (2023) e2279149, DOI: 10.1080/17452759.2023.2279149
• K. Lamb, K. Koube, J. Kacher, T. Sloop, N.N. Thadhani, S.S. Babu, “Anisotropic spall failure of additively manufactured 316L stainless steel, Additive Manufacturing 66, 103464, 2023.
• K.D. Koube, T. Sloop, K. Lamb, J. Kacher, S.S. Babu, and N.N. Thadhani, “An assessment of spall failure modes in laser powder bed fusion fabricated stainless steel 316L with low-volume intentional porosity, “Journal of Applied Physics 133 (18), 2023.
• N.N. Thadhani, “Materials Matter: Building the Embassy of the Future,” NAE Perspective, August 31, 2023; https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2023/08/materials-matter-building-the-embassy-of-the-future.
• T. Knapp, B. Amin-Ahmadi,, S.Turnage, S. Mills, N.N. Thadhani, R.D. Noebe, C. Williams, A.P. Stebner, “Mechanisms of Shock Strength Exhibited by a Nickel-rich Ni-Ti-Hf alloy, Advanced Engineering Materials, 25 (22) 2300977, 2023 10.1002/adem.202300977
• S. Jang, A. Boddorff, D.J Jang, J. Lloyd, K. Wagner, N.N. Thadhani, and B. Brettmann, Effect of Material Extrusion Process Parameters on Filament Geometry and Inter-filament Voids in as-fabricated High Solids Loaded Polymer Composites, Additive Manufacturing, Additive Manufacturing 47, 102313
• A.K. Boddorff, S.W. Jang, G. Kennedy, K. Taminger, and Naresh N. Thadhani, “Spall failure of additively manufactured two-layered Cu–Ni bimetallic alloys,” Journal of Applied Physics, 131, 175901 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0086445
• K.D. Koube, G. Kennedy, K. Bertsch, J. Kacher, D.J. Thoma, N.N. Thadhani, Spall Damage Mechanisms in Laser Powder Bed Fabricated Stainless Steel 316L, Materials Science and Engineering A, 0921-5093, 2022.
• S. Jang, A. Boddorff, D.J Jang, J. Lloyd, K. Wagner, N.N. Thadhani, and B. Brettmann, Effect of Material Extrusion Process Parameters on Filament Geometry and Inter-filament Voids in as-fabricated High Solids Loaded Polymer Composites, Additive Manufacturing, Additive Manufacturing 47, 102313
• A.K. Boddorff, S.W. Jang, G. Kennedy, K. Taminger, and Naresh N. Thadhani, “Spall failure of additively manufactured two-layered Cu–Ni bimetallic alloys,” Journal of Applied Physics, 131, 175901 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0086445
• K.D. Koube, G. Kennedy, K. Bertsch, J. Kacher, D.J. Thoma, N.N. Thadhani, Spall Damage Mechanisms in Laser Powder Bed Fabricated Stainless Steel 316L, Materials Science and Engineering A, 0921-5093, 2022.
• S Kumar, C Chong, T Voorhees, NN Thadhani, MR Prausnitz, “Relationship between bio-effects and energy transduction during nanoparticle-mediated photoporation,” Journal of Applied Physics 128 (17), 173101, 2020.
• Y Wei, DH Olsen, CM Miller, KB Wagner, A Keyhani, N Thadhani, M Zhou, Computational design of three-dimensional multi-constituent material microstructure sets with prescribed statistical constituent and geometric attributes, Multiscale Science and Engineering 2 (1), 7-19, 2020.
• W Zhang, GB Kennedy, K Muly, P Li, NN Thadhani, “Effect of aging state on shock induced spall behavior of ultrahigh strength Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy” International Journal of Impact Engineering, 103725, 2020.
• Karla B Wagner, Amirreza Keyhani, Andrew K Boddorff, Gregory Kennedy, Didier Montaigne, Brian J Jensen, Matthew Beason, Min Zhou, Naresh N Thadhani, “High-speed x-ray phase contrast imaging and digital image correlation analysis of microscale shock response of an additively manufactured energetic material simulant,” 2020/6/21, Journal of Applied Physics, Volume 127, 23, 2020.
• M Gonzales, NN Thadhani, “Challenges in Understanding the Dynamic Behavior of Heterogeneous Materials,” Integrated Comp. Materials Engineering (ICME), 367-397, 2020.
• H Woods, A Boddorff, E Ewaldz, Z Adams, M Ketcham, DJ Jang, E Sinner, “Rheological Considerations for Binder Development in Direct Ink Writing of Energetic Materials,” Propellants, Explosives, Pyrotechnics 45 (1), 26-35, 2020
EDUCATION & AWARDS
- 1984 - Ph.D. in Metallurgical Engineering (Physical Metallurgy), New Mexico Tech.
- 1981 - M.S. in Metallurgical Engineering, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.
- 1979 - B.E. in Metallurgical Engineering, Malaviya Regional Engineering College, Jaipur, India.
- Jefferson Science Fellowship, U.S. Department of State (2022-23)
- TMS Leadership Award (2018)
- Elected Academician of the EuroMediterranean Academy of Arts and Sciences (2017)
- Fellow of American Physical Society (2007)
- Fellow of ASM International (2001)
RESEARCH INTERESTS
- Fundamental mechanisms of shock-induced physical, chemical, and mechanical changes in materials
- Shock-induced phase transformations and mechanical properties in advanced ferrous and non-ferrous, bulk metallic glasses, and additively manufactured materials
- Design, development, and characterization of structural energetic materials; and interactions of shock waves with heterogeneities in composite (solid) and granular (powder) materials.
- Hydrogen-based direct reduction for net-shaped fabrication of Advanced Steels, with net-zero CO2 emissions, and using conventional and lower-quality ores and tailings.