Global conference on thermal analysis begins at IIT-Madras on 03.09.2024

NEW DELHI: More than 400 scientists from across the world studying how materials – from spacecraft parts to food items – react to changes in temperature have gathered for a week-long conference in Chennai starting Tuesday.

The International Congress on Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry (ICTAC) is being hosted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras at its campus in association with International Confederation for Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, Indian Thermodynamics Society-Amritsar, Indian Chemical Society-Kolkata, and Indian Council of Chemists-Agra.

"This conference has always been held in Europe and the US. It is for the first time that the ICTAC is being held in India," said Ranjit K Verma, president of the Indian Council of Chemists and chairman of the National Organising Committee.

He said thermal analysis is a group of nearly five dozen techniques of monitoring and measuring temperature-dependent properties of compounds and other substances and has revolutionised material science, food science, pharmaceutical sciences, catalysis, chemistry and physics in recent decades.

"Before launching any product to use, from the outer sheet of a spacecraft and aircraft to structural material and explosives in defence, one needs to see the impact of thermal analysis," said Verma, who has been instrumental in bringing the conference to India.

Over 400 research papers have been selected for oral and poster presentations, plenaries, award lectures, over 45 invited lectures and five industry presentations covering various aspects of the science and technology of heat effects such as thermodynamics, kinetics, materials science, polymers, ecology, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical sciences, said Prof Ramesh Gardas of IIT Madras.