IIT Hyderabad, DMRL and Innomet Join Hands for India’s first Indigenous Large-Scale Gas Atomizer Development

• First-of-its-kind industry-driven project in India for indigenous development of a large-scale 100 kg Inert Gas Atomizer.
• Collaboration between IIT Hyderabad, DMRL and Innomet to strengthen India’s advanced materials, defence and Aerospace manufacturing ecosystem.
• Facility to enable production of high-performance spherical high quality alloy powders for Aerospace, Defence, Additive Manufacturing, and Strategic applications.
• Project funded by the DRDO-Industry-Academia (DIA) Centre of Excellence at IIT BHU, Varanasi under Directorate of Futuristic Technology Management (DFTM) of DRDO.

Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH), in collaboration with the DMRL and Hyderabad-based Innomet Advanced Materials Ltd., has entered into a landmark collaboration for the indigenous development of a large-scale 100 kg Inert Gas Atomizer facility in India. The initiative marks a major step toward strengthening India’s capabilities in advanced powder metallurgy, Aerospace materials, and strategic manufacturing under the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

The project, titled “Indigenous Development of Large Scale (100 kg) Inert Gas Atomiser,” is being funded by the DRDO-Industry-Academia (DIA) Centre of Excellence at IIT BHU, Varanasi under Directorate of Futuristic Technology Management (DFTM) of DRDO, with IIT Hyderabad and Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL) playing a key technological and research role alongside industry partner Innomet Advanced Materials Ltd.

The initiative aims to establish a state-of-the-art industrial-scale gas atomization facility capable of producing high-purity spherical metal powders required for next-generation Aerospace, Defence, Energy, and Advanced Manufacturing applications. These powders are critical for technologies such as Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing), Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP), thermal and protective surface coatings, and high-temperature superalloy components used in gas turbine engines and strategic systems. This project is the result of the success of a 10 kg indigenous gas atomiser developed earlier by the same collaborators.

The facility will focus on indigenous production of advanced alloy powders including nickel-based superalloys for Aerospace applications, ferritic and austenitic steels for nuclear and thermal power systems, cobalt-based alloys for protective coatings, and emerging high-entropy alloys.

The large-scale atomizer facility will be established at Innomet’s Hyderabad premises and will also be made available for DRDO and IIT Hyderabad research activities for the next five years after successful project completion, enabling collaborative research and translational technology development.

The project further reinforces growing role of IITH in translational research, advanced manufacturing, and strategic technology development through strong collaborations with national laboratories, academia, and industry partners. The initiative is expected to contribute significantly to India’s defence preparedness, Aerospace ecosystem, and high-performance Materials manufacturing capabilities.

The Director, IITH, has hailed this initiative, saying that this collaboration represents a significant milestone in India’s journey toward self-reliance in Advanced materials and strategic manufacturing technologies. IITH is proud to contribute its expertise in materials research and innovation toward technologies that are critical for national development and future manufacturing.

The industry partner Innomet thanked IIT Hyderabad, IIT BHU, DRDO and DMRL for selecting them as Industry partner for development of Indigenous Gas Atomizer. Innomet is honoured to be a part of this initiative in the direction of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

DMRL, DFTM and DIA CoE at IIT BHU, Varanasi expressed their happiness to support this initiative.