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Key alloys for LCA from Midhani

M. Somasekhar

THE Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) is one of the biggest and most ambitious projects under development of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), with the cooperation of a large number of national labs, industry and ancillary units.

The recent test flights, starting January 2001, have demonstrated the country's capability in manufacturing one of the lightest fighter aircraft. A major portion of the LCA is now indigenous.

The development initiative of the `Kaveri' engine, spearheaded by the Bangalore-based, Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), is the biggest challenge for Indian scientists to claim virtually complete indigenous capability for producing the LCA.

In the challenging task of indigenously manufacturing and supplying key components to the Kaveri engine, the Hyderabad-based Defence public sector undertaking -- Midhani -- has made significant strides. It has so far contributed 80 per cent of the advanc ed materials required for building the engine. Translated into numbers, it amounts to over 100 critical engine parts, shaped out of the feedstock supplied by Midhani.

Recently, it supplied a range of titanium-based advanced materials for the engine, which will power the LCA, the lightest combat aircraft in the world. Triple-melted titanium alloys, which need to survive the tough conditions specified by the user for th e manufacture of rotating aero-engine parts, and large diameter ingots of complex superalloys free from macro-segregation, a capability vested with a handful of manufacturers across the globe, have been fabricated successfully.

Midhani recently achieved a rare feat when eight new materials fabricated by it for the Kaveri engine were approved at one stroke by the Centre for Military Air Worthiness Certification (CEMILAC), the nodal agency evaluating all components used in aircra ft.

While Midhani has exhibited the capacity to indigenously produce quality components, the development also paves the way for reduction in the overall weight of the Kaveri engine. In fact, Mr Kota Harinarayana, Programme Director of the LCA project from he Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), Bangalore, says that from the present 1,200 kg, the weight of the engine should be reduced by at least another 250 kg to make the LCA lighter, cost-effective and more lethal.

Some of the products fabricated by Midhani include different grades of alloys of titanium, heat-resistant and high-grade super alloys. Already, Midhani's special products have been certified and used in the MiG engines for several years.

More than 50 aeronautical materials developed by Midhani have been type-approved by CEMILAC. Interestingly, the defence PSU has been able to supply such customers as GE Aircraft Company, US, in a specific project it did for the Department of Scientific a nd Industrial Research (DSIR).

Midhani's strengths in manufacturing these sophisticated materials stems from its contributions to the Indian Space Programmes. Titanium, special steels and soft magnetic materials, which are import substitutes and can function well below -250 degrees C, have been successfully fabricated and supplied to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), for the cryogenic engine that powers the Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).

In addition to the supply of advanced materials to such strategic sectors as aeronautics, space and nuclear energy, Midhani also produces special alloys and products for the power sector, medical gadgets and armaments such as gun barrels and accessories.

Microbes to clean up oily mess

Microbes, those tiny spots of destruction as they are often perceived, have some good properties too. For example, Indian scientists have successfully identified a set of microbes that help clean up the mess left behind by oil industry.

Scientists at the Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), Chandigarh, have spotted a new microbe which converts hazardous hydrocarbons into harmless substances. The origins of the microbe have been traced back to the oilfields of Gujarat.

The microbe has the capability to degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. These include naphthalene and phenanthrene. The tiny life forms use these hydrocarbons as their main source of carbon and energy and, in the bargain, break it down to harmless su bstances.

In another related development, scientists at the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur, have developed a technology using which microorganisms can be combined with chemically treated sawdust, and the resultant mix used to treat oil spills and effluents emerging out of oil refineries.

The NEERI technology is a two-step process that is efficient in recovering up to 95 per cent of the spilled oil. First, the sawdust is treated with alkali under high pressure and temperature. This yields very small pore-sized dust of 10-20 micrometers.

In the next step, the microorganisms identified are distributed at the place of the spill to degrade the oil. The NEERI scientists have introduced a novelty in the process by putting a salt-resistant gene into the microorganisms.

The injection of the novel gene into the microbes is intended to make them more efficient in their job in hyper saline or marine environments also, the NEERI report said. With the increasing demand and utilisation seen in the petroleum sector, the applic ation of such technologies looks promising indeed.

Interestingly, the New Delhi-based, Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI) has also developed a `cocktail' of microorganisms that can eat up the sludge emanating from oil refineries and convert it into harmless waste.

The technology, demonstrated in collaboration with the Indian Oil Corporation's Research and Development Centre in Faridabad, at an oil refinery, was very encouraging. The microorganisms help degrade the sludge, which is a major waste product of oil refi neries.

In the absence of this technology, the IOC is resorting to dumping the sludge in remote places. However, the piling dumps are already becoming a problem and an environmental concern. With IOC itself having a string of refineries which throw up this waste , the help from the microbes was indeed good news.

The IOC has started applying the technology in select oil refineries, and the results are beneficial not just to the company but also to the environment.

Pic.:The Light Combat Aircraft, one of the lightest fighter aircraft, manufactured with a range of titanium-based advanced materials developed by the Defence PSU, Midhani.