The 9th edition of the Symposium on Fatigue, Fracture, and Integrity Assessment (FFIA-2024) was successfully held on July 18-19, 2024, at the Alcor Hotel. Organized by the Indian Institute of Metals (IIM) – Jamshedpur Chapter in collaboration with CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML), NIT Jamshedpur, and Tata Steel Limited, the event brought together leading experts from academia, industry, and research labs.
The symposium was graced by Dr. Shekhar C Mande, Ex-Director General of CSIR and Independent Director of Tata Steel Board, as the chief guest. Distinguished guests of honour included Mr. Subodh Pandey and Mr. Chaitanya Bhanu, both Vice Presidents at Tata Steel. Other notable attendees were Dr. Sandip Ghosh Chowdhury, Director of CSIR-NML, Prof. Ashok Kumar, Chairman of IIM-Jamshedpur Chapter, Dr. Rahul Kumar Verma, Chairman of the Organising Committee, and Dr. Sivaprasad, Convener of FFIA-2024.
The proceedings commenced with a welcome address by Prof. Ashok Kumar, who outlined the vision of the IIM Jamshedpur Chapter. Dr. Sandip Ghosh Chowdhury provided an overview of FFIA. In his keynote speech, Dr. Shekhar C Mande emphasized the crucial role of AI and ML in future research and development. Dr. Debashish Bhattacharjee, Vice President of Tata Steel, was honoured for his significant contributions to research and development and fostering industry-academia interactions.
The symposium featured 14 invited talks and multiple poster presentations, covering a wide range of topics including multiaxial fatigue, microstructure-fatigue life correlation, NDT techniques for integrity assessment, and modelling and simulation of fatigue cycles. The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr. Sivaprasad.
FFIA-2024 promises to advance the understanding of material integrity and foster innovation in the industry through insightful discussions on fatigue and fracture analysis.