NANOTECHNOLOGY

Mr. Deepak Monga, Assistant Professor from Mechanical Engineering of Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon attended a two-day "National Workshop on Enhancing Material Properties by Nanotechnology" under TEQIP-II jointly conducted by the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Department of Civil Engineering of College of Technology and Engineering, Udaipur, Rajasthan from 7th to 8th February 2014.

The objective of this workshop was to provide a platform to disseminate knowledge on Material properties, energy applications, bioavailability etc.

The workshop was inaugurated by the Chief-guest Prof. N. Lakshmi, Head of Department of Physics, Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur and Dr. B. P. Nandwana, Dean, C.T.A.E, Udaipur followed by a welcome speech delivered by the coordinator Dr. Chittaranjan, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, C.T.A.E, Udaipur, Rajasthan. Prof. N. Lakshmi also delivered a talk on "Introduction to Nanostructure Materials". She discussed how Nano Structuring can be used in the field of Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, Biology, Metallurgy and Environmental. General types of Nano Structures are Quantum dots, Nano wires, Carbon nano tubes and Graphene.

During the two-days some renowned academicians Dr. Pankaj Porwal, TNJR, Udaipur; Dr. Chouhan, BNP, Udaipur; Prof. M. Gupta, JECRC, Jaipur; Dr. Dave, C.T.A.E, Udaipur; Prof. B. Bhattacharjee, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi; Prof. Vijaya Agarwal, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee; Dr. Swati Jain, C.T.A.E, Udaipur shared their views on various topics like "Nanotechnology for Energy Applications", "Nanotechnology: Overcoming Poor Oral Bioavailability", "Walking on the Ceiling with Fibrillar Nanoadhesives", "Tensile strength improvement in concrete using Nano-Particles", "Characterization of Nano-materials", "Nanotechnology in Waste water Treatment" etc.

The workshop ended with a panel discussion on applications of Nano technology in different fields like Chemical, Mechanical, Thermal, Biomass, Civil, Solar thermal energy and Geothermal energy and how material properties can be improved by nano -particles.

The workshop was educative and interesting as the attendees learnt the current possibilities of improving concrete material properties with nano additives such as nano-silica, nano carbon tube fiber reinforcement and method to improve energy efficiency of buildings with nano coatings on glass or even surfaces.