A Chance Encounter With Materials Science

I finally got an opportunity to meet Prof Rajesh Prasad in person this summer at IIT Delhi ,8 years after I first watched his lectures on materials science. It was by chance I stumbled across his video on composites when I was researching substrates for antennas. Fiber reinforced plastic came up repeatedly so I thought it wouldn't hurt to learn a bit more on this subject.

That was my first encounter with materials science. At that time I wasn't looking to go too deep, just learn enough to understand the systems that I was planning to work with. The idea was to build base stations with in house assembly and some quick engineering to attach components and protect them in a casing so that they could last a while. How hard could it be? Right?

Only during the lockdown did I have enough time to take his full course.

My interest was in part because of my own desire to learn about materials — for engineering projects I had in mind but also because I wanted to break out of a rut. Much of my career at that point was software focussed but after years I learnt how little flexibility this option offered as both the ecosystem and the hardware that ran it was designed by corporations that focused on their own interests rather than the interests of the developer community or of the consumers.

That's when I decided to switch. As someone with no background in hard science I found his lectures to be very easy to understand,engaging and short. So I could watch them in a few minutes when I had time.

But really I binged through all the lectures by Prof Rajesh and followed it up with another course on carbon materials and manufacturing by Dr Swati Sharma.

The first few months were a struggle as I found that I couldn't really ‘compile’ materials and get an immediate response as I’d a computer program but slowly I developed the discipline required to read papers and find references. I continued my journey into independent research and it has been very satisfying so far.

My tryst with experimental science in carbon materials was not as successful as I had hoped but it did give me some valuable lessons on the skills I lacked and what I would need to overcome those limitations. Through simple pyrolysis setups for carbonising sugar and vegetable oils using ceramic (earthen pots) reaction vessels gave me a taste of what real practical engineering looks like and how far away I was from it. Those were difficult days but they conditioned me to take on challenging subjects and were very instructive in demonstrating deep science in common tasks like creating caramel from sugar. Or how a similar reaction can create carbon quantum dots which you can see if you shine a UV light.

Later my ambitions grew as I experimented with cellulostic materials for creating nanocellulose with green chemicals and achieved modest success with formic acid and hydrogen peroxide. Each and every misstep guided me towards my next new project. All because I decided to watch that one video even when I didn't have to.

Given how materials shape everything we see around us and the urgent need to find and build sustainable materials,materials science is a subject that has universal appeal. It is a great introduction to science.The more people we have ,devoting their time to study materials science and engineering as a career or as a hobby , the better for us.

Both Prof Swati’s and Prof Rajesh's lectures have amassed tens of thousands of views and inspired many people to take up science as a career. For that I'm thankful to both of them.Such initiatives democratise access to science and improve participation of people ,helping them make informed decisions that ultimately results in better outcomes for us all.

Introduction to materials science and engineering

https://youtube.com/@introductiontomaterialsscience?si=xAvfTSfVEKhc7dIF

Carbon Materials and Manufacturing

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyqSpQzTE6M8vssBC2RgyECfBYMjiMhm9&si=rTxmYsHlZc-V3fxh

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Akshat Jiwan Sharma

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