Bharat Rakshak

ramana, I will sure post the link to this thread on IITK obit page. I will wait for a day or two for BRFites to express their condolences.

Prof. Bala often used to inform the defense enthusiasts on http://www.bharat-rakshak.com about the ancient Indian metallurgy and Indian canons. BR community is very sad to know that they have a lost a great contributor. On behalf of BR, I express my condolence to Bala sir's family. Below are some of the messages from BR members.

The sad loss of a truly great Indian.His work will remain as a testament to his dedication in his field of expertise and his pioneering work on ancient Indian metallurgy,a field in which the country today is sorely in need of experts like him.We were priviliged to have had him contribute to BR and express our sincere condolences to his family.May his soul rest in peace. - Philip

My sincere and heartfelt condolences to Dr. Bala's family. Indeed, a great son of India and a teacher par excellence! His work will be a testimony of a life well lived and an inspiration for millions of Indians of as a glimpse into what it is to be an Indian. His work is a product of an unshackled mind with a full understanding of the legacy of bharitya thought. May God grant him peace and solace to his family. - Raja Ram

I distinctly remember him for his saltpeter comment in another thread and those words echoed in my ears for long time, that "India exported the saltpeter and, by that had the whole world blown up, including India"! Sad to note this tragic loss.
May your soul rest in peace! - dipak

Other messages can be read at
RIP: Sad demise of BRFite Prof. R. Balasubramaniam
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5323&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

[quote="nkumar"

I tried posting the below message on http://www.iitk.ac.in/mme/obituary/ but site is not accepting it (I tried IE, Fireforx and Chrome), it is giving me the following error - "Error: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 's family. Other messages can be read at RIP: Sad demise of BRFite Prof. R. Balas' at line 1"



Can any BRFite please post the above message on http://www.iitk.ac.in/mme/obituary/ ? Thanks.

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A research paper published in the January 10 issue of Current Science details the development of a novel corrosion-resistant steel by a team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT-K), the Research Designs & Standards Organisation (RDSO) of the Indian Railways at Lucknow, the Research & Development Centre for Iron & Steel (RDCIS) of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) at Ranchi, and the Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP). The team was led by the late R. Balasubramaniam, a materials science professor at IIT-K who became well known for unravelling the mystery behind the corrosion resistance of the 1,600-year-old iron pillar in Delhi. He found that the presence of phosphorus in the pillar helped in the formation of a passive film on the surface that provided the pillar with exceptional resistance to atmospheric corrosion. The researchers used the same principle of micro-alloying to arrive at an appropriate composition of alloying elements for the steel that could be used to make corrosion-resistant rails.

The development of a new alloy with relatively improved corrosion resistance compared with the standard rail currently in use was undertaken as an academia-industry-user collaborative research project under the Technology Mission on Railway Safety (TMRS) launched in 2003 by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The Indian Railways, which operates the second largest rail network in the world, runs over 11,000 trains every day, 7,000 of which are passenger trains. The network spans 1,08,706 km and carries about 14 million passengers daily from 6,853 stations across the country. The rail is the most important component of a rail system. Therefore, rail failure due to corrosion over such a large network is naturally an important aspect of passenger safety.

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