Maneel Bharadwaj is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with a concentration in Welding and Physical Metallurgy. Mr. Bharadwaj is currently working as a graduate research assistant/teaching assistant in the Materials Joining Group (MJG) under the guidance of Professor Carl D. Lundin. Mr. Bharadwaj moved to the United States from Nepal in pursuit of a higher education and received his bachelor’s degree in Extractive Metallurgy from the University of Idaho in 2008. After exploring various employment opportunities, Mr. Bharadwaj joined the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 2011 to pursue his graduate research in Welding and Physical Metallurgy.
Mr. Bharadwaj received his master’s degree in 2015 studying high temperature hydrogen related damage in carbon steel components to assist the American Petroleum Institute (API) and various petrochemical industries to establish safe design criteria for high pressure hydrogen atmospheres at elevated temperature. His committee members were Drs. Carl D. Lundin, Carl McHargue, and Hahn Choo. Prior to defending his master’s thesis, Mr. Bharadwaj began his research on this Ph.D. research topic of graphitization in carbon steel, a common industry problem at elevated temperatures. This research will assist in providing remaining life service assessments of graphitized and repair-welded components. His research will provide information on the kinetics of graphitization for carbon and C-½ Mo steels for graphitization prediction. Mr. Bharadwaj intends to defend his Ph.D. during fall 2016.18 Annual Report
Mr. Bharadwaj, during his tenure at the Materials Joining Group (MJG), has been fortunate to work on multiple projects involving both ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. Additionally, he has worked on the development of toughness prediction factors, which correlate microstructure, mechanical properties, and chemical composition with toughness. The toughness prediction factors are of significant importance for engineers, manufacturers, and operators in making important decisions to repair, replace, or retire a vessel. This work was published in the Welding Research Council Bulletin (WRC 548). Simultaneously, he worked on HTHA damage examination in C-½ Mo steels and presented both studies in multiple conferences including WRC, the annual meetings of the Metals, Minerals, and Materials Society (TMS), the Association of Iron and Steel Technology (AIST), and ASM (MS&T’15). Mr. Bharadwaj was awarded third place in the annual poster competition cohosted by the Oak Ridge chapter of ASM and the Center for Materials Processing. In the future, he will be presenting his work on C-½ Mo steel at an International Hydrogen Conference in Moran, Wyoming, in September 2016. In past years, Mr. Bharadwaj also contributed to multiple projects involving Grade P91, CT15C (20Cr 32Ni 1Nb), and 6061-T6 aluminum alloy.
Mr. Bharadwaj has also worked as a teaching assistant for various courses including Introduction to Materials Science and Engineering, Materials Processing, Welding Metallurgy, Materials Selection and Design, and Materials Design. Last year, Mr. Bharadwaj worked as a teaching assistant for junior level MSE laboratories. Mr. Bharadwaj received a graduate student award at the 2016 annual MSE banquet recognizing his excellence in teaching. Apart from his class and research assignments, Mr. Bharadwaj has been actively involved with the local northeast Tennessee chapter of the American Welding Society (AWS). He served as an education committee chairman for the past three years, 2013-2016. Mr. Bharadwaj received an international scholarship award for 2015-2016 from AWS, and he will also be attending a leadership symposium in August 2016, hosted by the AWS.