S. Vishnu Sharma
IIT-M technology to aid defense – Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) incubated startup company Kapindra Precision Engineering has developed novel diamond coating technology which has applications in aerospace, defense, medical and electronics industries.
Sources say, the diamond coating technology can be of help to Indian scientists working on heat dissipation (thermal management) which is a major issue for hypersonic missiles during their reentry into earth’s atmosphere where they experience high temperatures which are greater than 2,400 oC.
It is interesting to note that Kapindra was adjudged as No.1 start up in ‘DRDO Dare to Dream Innovation Contest’ based on this technology. The start-up came from technology developed at IIT Madras Nano Functional Materials Technology Centre (NFMTC) and Materials Science Research Center (MSRC) led by Professor M.S. Ramachandra Rao, Department of Physics, IIT Madras.
IIT-M technology to aid defense
Kapindra Precision Engineering works on development and application of specialized coatings for components used in strategic products that demand extreme tribological performances to reduce friction, wear and promote heat dissipation at contacting surfaces.
High quality thin film coatings are required for UV and IR detection/sensing, underwater SONAR devices, surface acoustic wave devices, pressure sensors and actuators among others. Ramachandra Rao who is also the CTO at Kapindra said stronger adhesion to tools and components is required to transmit larger loads and enhance coating, tool life. Currently this comes at a cost of functional performance in the form of higher friction and wear.
‘So how can the coating adhesion to the substrate be improved, while ensuring required tribological performance of low friction and wear? This is the problem we are trying to solve.’
physics of doping diamond was fascinating from the point of converting the most insulating diamond into a metal and a superconductor (good for electronic industry). It is interesting to note that even though diamond is electrically insulating, its thermal conductivity (2,000 Wm-1K-1) is 5 times that of copper. So, diamond coatings act as heat-spreaders in electronic devices and find applications in space technology, he said.
IIT-M technology to aid defense
He said diamond is an ultimate engineering material with a plethora of application prospects and it is the material to explore for ‘quantum computing’ with the creation of ‘N-V centres in diamond,’ a very challenging and futuristic area of research.
Founder and CEO of Kapindra Padmanabh Bagaria said they are grateful to DRDO for recognising their work and giving them this breakthrough. ‘We are committed to provide our defence and space establishments with need-based cutting-edge indigenous technologies.’
Kapindra is also carving out a really powerful yet affordable product-based solution for disinfection, cleaning and waste water treatment without the use of chemicals. Our team strongly believes in innovating continuously and gives great importance to R&D. We are here to establish ourselves as a nano-engineering surface technology powerhouse, he said.