1. High temperature protective coatings: a) Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) ­ i) New thermal barrier materials based on 'high entropy' ceramics. Indian Patent #381163 (Nov 2021), Application No. 201921032434 (Aug 2019). ii) Condition monitoring of TBC system by spectroscopic sensing iii) Phase transformations and property evolution in zirconia TBCs. Mater. Sci. Eng. A, 556, 927­935 (2012). b)Environmental barrier coatings (EBCs) ­ i) Thermodynamic explanation of multiple phase formation in rare earth silicate EBCs ii) Slurry spray deposited, in­situ reaction sintered, multilayered EBCs 
2. Multicomponent equimolar 'high entropy' oxides ­ a) Spinel, perovskite, pyrochlore/fluorite structured 'high entropy' oxides. Materialia (20) 101259 (2021) b) Advanced structural characterisation of 'high entropy' oxides c) Interesting properties: Thermal, optical, dielectric, and mechanical 
3. Alumina based glasses a) Rare­earth and transition metal oxide additives to stabilise glassy phase b) Low temperature sintering of alumina glasses c) Advanced structural characterisation of alumina glasses

Prof. Aparna Singh’s interest is in the development of novel materials with a combination of high strength, toughness and fatigue crack growth life. She is also interested in understanding processingmicrostructure­ processing links in steels and polymer composites. Her rigorous experimental work has shown many interesting deformation phenomena in epoxies and steels. She also has significant experience in probing causes of failures in rails and wheels. Multiple novel grades of steels have been developed in her group that have the potential to be used as rail/wheel materials. Novel varieties of hierarchical carbonfiber epoxy composites have also been developed in her lab that can find use in prosthetics , wind turbine blades and aeroplanes. She has also worked with industries like Renewsys and Shapoorji Pallonji.

Prof. Patra's research interests are in the prediction of microstructuremechanical property correlations using physically­based crystal plasticity constitutive equations. These tools have been used for simulating deformation in nuclear, aerospace and automotive alloys. A key emphasis of his research is also on the development of computational methods, including open source tools, for such applications.