Dr Saranarayanan Ramachandran

Materials Knowledge Exchange Associate

Advanced Forming Research Centre

Personal statement

Saran Ramachandran is a Materials Knowledge Exchange Associate at the Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) of the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS). His research has been focused on materials joining techniques and mechanical metallurgy investigations required for high-fidelity service applications of welded structures. His current position has offered him a valuable opportunity to lead challenging work packages of rotary friction welding projects funded by industrial partners. Furthermore, he has been awarded an industrial-focused collaborative research and design project jointly funded by the Scottish Funding Council and a continuous casting technology provider named Rautomead.

Expertise

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Area of Expertise

I have a strong background in Materials Engineering, and I have more than eight years of R&D experience in material joining technologies that include Friction Stir Welding, Rotary Friction Welding, Gas Tungsten Arc Welding, and Laser Beam Welding for joining complex dissimilar materials (Magnesium-Titanium and Copper-Stainless steel). Additionally, I also have expertise in materials characterisation, including Optical microscopy, SEM, EDX, EBSD, mechanical testing, and non-contact full-field strain measurement techniques such as Digital Image Correlation (DIC). I have a PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering (Materials joining and Characterisation) which was awarded by the University of Southampton. My PhD research delivered a novel high-fidelity experimental methodology to assess the local material response (stress-strain behaviour) of dissimilar welds using a high-resolution DIC technique. During my Ph.D. research, I have delivered extensive research consultancy services to industry-based clients, which received excellent feedback and income to the University. My postdoctoral research project at the University of Manchester has focused on developing a novel soldering process to enable cost-effective high-temperature Pb-free solder interconnects for microelectronics devices. My postdoctoral research involves an in-depth understanding of materials science alongside the application of material characterisation techniques that include small-scale mechanical testing, in-situ synchrotron X-ray imaging, and Electron microscopy techniques to assess the quality of Pb-free solder joints.

Publications

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Publications

Analysis and optimisation of parent grain reconstruction for additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V: Yang Lu, Ramachandran Saranarayanan, Bagasol Axieh, Wu Fan, Guan Qiyu, Browne David J, Dowling Denis, Mirihanage Wajira; International Journal of Lightweight Materials and Manufacture (2025); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlmm.2025.07.009
Study on thermomigration-induced void formation in advanced copper interconnects: Liang Shuibao, Jiang Han, Zhou Rongxin, Xu Yaohua, Ramachandran Saranarayanan; IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology Vol 15, pp. 1692-1697 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1109/tcpmt.2025.3530423
Grain morphology effects on void formation and electromigration-induced failure in copper interconnects: Jiang Han, Li Susu, Li Zhenchao, Zhang Leyin, Xu Yaohua, Ramachandran Saranarayanan, Liang Shuibao; IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing (2025); https://doi.org/10.1109/TSM.2025.3593054
Grain morphology effect on interfacial void closure in Cu–Cu bonding for advanced semiconductor packaging: Jiang Han, Xu Yaohua, Ramachandran Saranarayanan, Liang Shuibao; Microelectronics Reliability Vol 173 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.microrel.2025.115864
Influence of phase coarsening on inhomogeneous deformation and fracture behavior in Sn–Bi solder interconnects: Liang Shuibao, Jiang Han, Zhong Zhihong, Xu Yaohua, Ramachandran Saranarayanan; IEEE Transactions on Device and Materials Reliability (2025); https://doi.org/10.1109/tdmr.2025.3574560
Investigation of electro-thermo-mechanical degradation and crack propagation of wire bonds in power modules using integrated phase field modelling and finite element analysis: Jiang Han, Liang Shuibao, Xu Yaohua, Ramachandran Saranarayanan; IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics Vol 40, pp. 3600-3609 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1109/tpel.2024.3496542

More publications

Research

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Research Interests

Welding of materials with dissimilar properties
Non-Destructive Evaluation
In-process weld quality assessment through imaging techniques
In-situ X-ray imaging
Quasi Ambient Bonding
Mechanical metallurgy
Structure-property correlation
Sensor-driven Manufacturing
Metal additive manufacturing

Projects

AFRC-DIRF-07007-Rotary Friction Welding of Dissimilar Materials (Phase 2): King, Michael (Principal Investigator) Ramachandran, Saranarayanan (Project Lead); BAE Systems Ltd. (based in Barrow-in-Furness) have approached the AFRC to explore the in-house Rotary Friction Welding technology for joining a wide range of materials with dissimilar thermo-physical properties in a tubular geometry targeting submarine applications. They are particularly interested in using this solid-state welding technology to join dissimilar material combinations of Monel 400 and S31254 Stainless Steel (SS) in phase 2 of the project. RFW is an autogenous solid-state welding process that can achieve a dissimilar joint without melting the base materials, overcoming challenges like solidification cracking, weld distortion and pores associated with more traditional welding processes, i.e. fusion welding or similar. This key advantage has enabled the RFW process to achieve high-quality solid-state welds for demanding and critical structural integrity applications. Project value: £17630; 07-Jan-2025 - 04-Jan-2025
DIRF 06940 - Research Project: Ramachandran, Saranarayanan (Researcher); The project, funded by BAE Systems, investigates near-net shape manufacturing technologies that can advance the productivity of the defence sector. Project value: £240,000; 01-Jan-2024 - 30-Jan-2025
DIRF 06208 - Research project: Ramachandran, Saranarayanan (Researcher); The project funded by BAE Systems examined issues affecting forging consistency. Project value: £140,000; 01-Jan-2024 - 28-Jan-2025
DIRF-1172-Boeing Innovative Metal Forming R&D initiative project (WP3): Ramachandran, Saranarayanan (Researcher); The Boeing Company (Boeing) approached the Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) for support in creating new manufacturing equipment and processes to meet the demand for key aircraft components. With the Boeing Innovative Metals Forming R&D Initiative and AFRC’s capital assets and expertise, Boeing would like the AFRC to engage in state of the art manufacturing research projects that push the boundaries of technology for superplastic forming (SPF) and incremental bulk forming processes. WP3 value : £400,000; 01-Jan-2023 - 31-Jan-2024
AFRC-CRAD-06321 RFW: Rotary Friction Welding of CuCrZr for Novel Hote End Nose: Ramachandran, Saranarayanan (Principal Investigator) Easton, David (Co-investigator); 06-Jan-2023 - 28-Jan-2023
CRAD 05579 – Novel Magnetic Valve Development: Bisland, Graeme (Principal Investigator) Ramachandran, Saranarayanan (Researcher) McDaid, Daniel John (Principal Investigator); The project aim is to assist the client in the generation of requirements, concepts and validation plan for the novel magnetic coupler driven valve. The concept can then be broken into the 3 key aspects which will be explored – the shroud, the shaft and the bearings. These will be developed considering material selection and geometry, and will include the development of appropriate analysis to enable proof of concept for the shroud. Consideration will also be given to preferred methods for manufacture/ joining of the shroud to the main valve body.
This scope of work will allow the client to incorporate these designs into the development of their test rig to enable proof of concept of the torque transmission for the magnetic coupler. Project value: £120,000; 06-Jan-2022 - 30-Jan-2022