19th International CODATA Conference
Category: Open Communication

Indian Effort In Scientific Data Compilation On A Few Areas Of Materials Science And Engineering

R.K. Dayal (rkd@igcar.ernet.in) and Baldev Raj
Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, India

India has experience in maintaining data base for some of the areas in materials Science and engineering areas through professional bodies such as Indian Institute of Metals and Materials Research Society of India. The websites maintained by these professional bodies provide information on its members and various scientific activities. A need for compilation of important scientific information in the materials science and engineering areas in India was felt as early as in 1977 and a first brochure on chemical metallurgy was brought out by the Indian Institute of Metals during the year. It contained all the relevant information about the scientists, their specialization, equipment capability and range of research and development programme in the various institutes in India. Such data bank was highly appreciated among the materials scientists and technologists. Since then the brochure is being  periodically updated with a broader field and the latest version includes the various activities related to  the metal sciences in India.

To generate vital data on alloy phase diagrams, a programme with the support from Govt. of India was taken up with international efforts in 1982 by the Indian Institute of Metals. Today the data generated  under this programme is acclaimed as most important one and a far reaching effort in the International Commission of Alloy Phase Diagrams (APDIC). In India,  the work is carried out under 12 different categories in a coordinated manner by different scientific groups all over the country. The systematic effort has resulted in the publications of monographs in several volumes containing phase diagrams of various alloy systems.

Efforts have been made by the Materials Research Society of India and the Indian Institute of Metals for developing a date base for non-ferrous materials. Presently the data bank consists of large number of technology records on the non-ferrous materials. Value added reports and  source book in this area have been published.

Another effort has been made on the sensor science and technology. Varieties of sensors for specific use such as chemical analysis, NDT evaluations, process control in sodium systems have been developed. The details of these sensors have been made available in a form of  published booklets and information website.

The scientific data on alloy phase diagrams, information on metal sciences activities in India, data bank on non-ferrous materials and the details of the sensors are available as a source of information either on website or in the form of books which can be retrieved freely or on payment basis depending on the type of the data.  Besides these data bank, experts list is also maintained by the Indian Institute of Metals  for providing services to various industries. If these  data base is to be made of great value, more information and a better organization of it are required. For example, it should be possible to retrieve  information on scientific data,  research programs, materials being investigated, instruments available etc from a single source. It is planned to transfer these information in the CODATA format so that it could be  integrated with the international data base.