WOOTZ’9

A jewel in the star spangled crown of the Department of Metallurgical Engineering

The 50th year celebrations of the Department of Metallurgical engineering were marked with the 9th chapter of their famed flagship event. Named after an ancient kind of steel used by mankind and said to be the strongest of all, knowledge regarding the processes involved in making it is said to have vanished over time. The historically renowned Damascus Swords were made of Wootz steel, which according to many were the reason for the victories of the Mughal Empire.

The Department of Metallurgical Engineering and the Indian Institute of Metals (IIM), Coimbatore chapter joined hands to Present WOOTZ, a National Level Technical Symposium. This year WOOTZ’9 witnessed extraordinary workshops and mind blowing events. More than 150 students from various colleges in and around Coimbatore attended the workshop.

50 YEARS FOR METALLURGICAL ENGINEERING IN PSG TECH:

The year 1968 saw the inception of the bachelors degree in metallurgical engineering. With the inception of the Department of Metallurgical Engineering in 1974, it has strived to offer a comprehensive fundamental education in metallurgical and materials engineering. The Department thus celebrates its golden jubilee this year, having completed 50 successful years of service to the student community. Here we ought to honor the founding Head of the Department, the late Dr.N.K.Srinivasan, under whose guidance the department has been the stepping stone for thousands of students to achieve their dreams and goals. The department has succeeded in producing students that exhibit both exemplary academics and stellar extracurriculars as well. The department also takes pride in having been the stepping stone of numerous faculties currently performing research in various institutes abroad.

DAY 1:

The Inauguration ceremony began at 9.30am with the gathering being welcomed by Dr.J.Krishnamoorthi- Treasurer of IIM, Coimbatore Chapter and Assistant Professor at the Department of Metallurgical Engineering, followed by the chief guest Dr.G.Bhuvanashekaran, Former AGM – Welding Research Institute, BHEL – Trichy. Having had years of friendship with PSG Tech and the Department Of Metallurgical Engineering, his presence proved to light up the entire event. The inauguration ended with the vote of thanks from the secretary of the Indian Institute of Metals (IIM) Students’ Affiliated chapter Coimbatore, Mr.G.R.Karthikeyan.

Session 1 began and the stage was taken over by Dr.G.Bhuvanashekaran. He shared his knowledge and experience with the students in surface modification by welding. The session gave a new perspective to students in the field. The next session on welding technology development for power plants was by Dr.Ashok Kumar, Manager, Centre of Excellence of Welding, PSG College of Technology. Being associated with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), he has years of experience in the field.

After an lip-smacking lunch, the third session of the day started by 2.00 pm. It was preceded by Mr.N.Dhanashekaran, who led the session in an enjoyable, fun and interactive manner and imparted his knowledge to the participants. With his session the workshops came to an end.

After the presentation, prelims were conducted for the events to be held on the next day. Almost every participant took part in the prelims and participants were thrilled to exhibit their hidden talents. They were selected for various events based on their performances in the preliminary rounds.

The Second day saw an overwhelming turnout for the different technical and non- technical events. The participants were excited to attend the events as they filled up their schedule with as many events as they could attend. Technical events such as Paper and Poster Presentations, Mr.Engineer, Scinovation, Metallomania, Metamorphosis, Castology and Virtual Cast brought out the dormant engineer within the attendees while non-technical events like JAM, Rubik’s cube and Mini Militia tested the students’ mettle. They participated enthusiastically in all the events and cash prizes were awarded to the top three scorers in every event.

For the viewer’s delight, the 3D models of an Integrated Steel Plant, a Blast furnace and a cast iron foundry were made by the students of metallurgy department, which left the audience in awe. An eye-catching banner was displayed in front of the conference hall which stood as an apple in front of everyone’s eye.

It is safe to say that this chapter of WOOTZ has outperformed all its previous versions and will serve as the yardstick with which to measure the success of future versions by.