Biography

Ramulu Mamidala is the Boeing-Pennell Professor of Engineering at the University of Washington. He has been a faculty member in Mechanical Engineering since 1982, and adjunct professor in Industrial & Systems Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering. Over the past 29 years, Ramulu has been a devoted mentor, educator, and researcher. He took the leadership role to establish and direct two graduate educational programs and developed a certificate program in Composite Materials and Manufacturing that serves working Aerospace Engineers in collaboration with industry.

Mamidala’s research interests reflect the multi-disciplinary nature of materials, mechanics and manufacturing engineering, and primarily focuses on aircraft materials and structures. He has very successful research programs in fracture mechanics, fatigue and manufacturing engineering. His research has been supported by NSF, AFOSR, Boeing, GE Super abrasives, Paccar, TRW, Flow International, Quest, Electro Impact, Kyocera, Pacific Northwest Labs, McDonald Douglas, and Puget Sound Naval Ship Yard. He is an international expert on the machining and surface integrity of composite materials and structures. He received the NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award and the Technology Award from Waterjet Technology Association. He has supervised more than 200 graduate students. He has published more than 300 technical papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings. He has edited five ASME Symposium Proceedings and co-edited a book, Machining of Ceramics and Composites. He is one of the founding members of Machining Science and Technology Journal, and serving as a member of the editorial boards of five other scientific journals. He is a Fellow of ASM, ASME, SEM and SME.

Mamidala was awarded Outstanding Teacher in the College of Engineering, 1985-86 and was ranked in the top ten professors at the University of Washington by graduating students in the TYEE yearbook (1986). He was awarded the ASM-IIM International Lectureship Award (1985-86), the SAE's Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award (1987), the ASEE's AT&T Foundation Award for excellence in instruction of Engineering students (1989); and the Faculty Excellence Award from the UW Minority Science & Engineering Program (1991). His efforts to foster university-industry collaboration have been recognized with the “Academic Engineer of the Year” Award (1994) from the Puget Sound Engineering Council, Washington and “The Ed Wells Summer Faculty Fellow” from Boeing (1997). For his excellence in online teaching and innovation, he was awarded the 2004 R1.edu Award and for his contributions to distance education, he won the 2012 UW Distinguished Contribution to Life Long Learning Award.

Education

• Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington, 1982
• M.Tech in Production Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, 1976
• B.E. in Mechanical Engineering, Osmania University, 1974

Select publications

1. Additive Manufacturing Processes

   S. Ghods, E. Schultz, C. Wisdom, R. Schur, R. Pahuja, A. Montelione, D. Arola and M. Ramulu, "Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing of Ti6Al4V: Evolution of Powder Morphology and Part Microstructure with Powder Reuse", Materialia, Volume 9, March 2020, 100631,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtla.2020.100631

   A. Montelione1, S. Ghods1, R. Schur1, C. Wisdom1, D. Arola and M. Ramulu, “Powder Reuse in Electron Beam Melting Additive Manufacturing of Ti6Al4V: Particle Microstructure, Oxygen Content and Mechanical Properties” Additive Manufacturing, Vol.35, Oct 2020, .https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2020.101216

   R. Schur, ,S. Ghods, E. Schultz, C. Wisdom, R. Pahuja, A. Montelione,D. Arola, M. Ramulu, "Fractographic Analysis of Additively Manufactured Ti6Al4V by Electron Beam Melting: Effects of Powder Reuse" Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention, Vol.20, 2020, pp.794-803. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-020-00875-0

   P.Edwards and M. Ramulu, ""Fatigue Performance Evaluation of Selective Laser Melted Ti-6Al-4V" Materials Science & Engineering A., Vol.598, 2014, pp.327-337

   P.Edwards, A.O'Conner and M. Ramulu, "Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing of Titanium Components: Properties and Performance", ASME Journal of Manufacturing Science And Engineering, Vol.135, Dec, 2013, pp.-061016-1-061016-7, doi:10.1115/1.4025773

   P.Edwards and M. Ramulu Effect of build direction on the fracture toughness and fatigue crack growth in selective laser melted Ti‐6Al‐4 V”, Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures 38 (10), 1228-1236

2. Composite Machining & Drilling Processes Mechanics

   N. Anandan and M. Ramulu, "Study of machining induced surface defects and its effect on fatigue performance of AZ91/15% SiCp metal matrix composite", Journal of Magnesium and Alloys, Vol.8, 2020, pp.387-395

   N.Anandan and M. Ramulu, "Abrasive size and fiber direction effects on the wear behaviour of CFRP composite under rotary abrasion”, IOP Conference Series:: Materials Science and Engineering, 842 (2020) 012005, pp.8,doi:10.1088/1757-899X/842/1/012005

   R. Pahuja and M. Ramulu, "Characterization of surfaces generated in milling and Abrasive Water Jet of CFRP using Wavelet Packet Transform" IOP Conference Series:: Materials Science and Engineering, 842 (2020) 012001, pp.1-8,doi:10.1088/1757-899X/842/1/012005

   R. Pahuja and M.Ramulu,""Surface quality monitoring in Abrasive Water Jet machining of Ti6Al4V-CFRP stacks through Wavelet Packet analysis of Acoustic Emission signals", International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 104, 4091–4104 (2019) (DOI: 10.1007/s00170-019-04177-0)

   R.Pahuja and M. Ramulu, "Abrasive Water Jet Machining of Titanium (Ti6Al4V) - CFRP stacks - A semi-analytical modeling approach in the prediction of kerf geometry" Journal of Manufacturing Processes, Volume 39, March 2019, Pp. 327-337

   R. Pahuja and M. Ramulu, " Study of surface topography in Abrasive Water Jet machining of carbon foam and morphological characterization using Discrete Wavelet Transform" Journal of Materials processing Technology, Vol. 273, 2019, 116249, (DOI:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2019.05.030

   R. Pahuja and M. Ramulu, “Quality monitoring in milling of unidirectional CFRP through wavelet packet transform of force signals” 48th SME North American Manufacturing Research Conference, NAMRC 48,2020, Ohio, USA

   M. Ramulu, T. Branson, and Dae-Wook Kim, "An Experimental Study On The Drilling Of Graphite/Bismaleimide Composite and Titanium Stacks" Composite Structures, Vol.54, No.1, 2001, pp.67-77

   D.Kim and M. Ramulu, "Drilling Process Optimization for Graphite/Bismaleimide-Titanium Alloy Stacks" Composite Structures, Vol.63, No.1, 2004, pp.101-114(Google

3. Fracture Mechanics& Fatigue

   Harinder Oberoi and M. Ramulu, "Surface Integrity Of Fiber Reinforced Plastics", Proceedings of the ASME 2019 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, November 11-14, 2019, Salt Lake City, UT, USA, Paper#IMECE2019-12234

   M. Ramulu and A. S. Kobayashi, "Mechanics of Crack Curving and Branching - A Dynamic Fracture Analysis," International Journal of Fracture, Vol. 27, No 3-4, 1985, pp. 187-201(Google Citations 217)

   M. Ramulu and G. Paul and J. Patel., " EDM surface effects on the fatigue strength of a 15 vol% (SiC)p/Al metal matrix composite material” Composite structures 54 (1), 2001, pp79-86(Google Citations 99)

4. Friction Stir Welding & Superplastic Forming/Diffusion Bonding of Titanium Alloys

   Bryan Ferguson and M. Ramulu, " Surface Tracking of Diffusion Bonding Void Closure and its Application to Titanium Alloys"" International Journal of Materials Forming, April 2018, (DOI: 10.1007/s12289-019-01489-0)

   Kapil Gangwar and M. Ramulu, "Friction Stir Welding of Titanium Alloys: A Review, Materials and Design, Vol.141, 2018, pp.230-255

   Kapil Gangwar, M. Ramulu and Daniel G. Sanders," Friction stir welding of near ⍺and ⍺ + b titanium alloys: Metallurgical and mechanical characterization", Metals 2017, 7, 565; pp.1-23, doi:10.3390/met7120565

   D.G. Sanders, P. Edwards, A.M. Cantrell, K. Gangwar, M. Ramulu, "Friction Stir Welded Titanium Alloy Ti-6Al-4V: Microstructure, Mechanical and Fracture Properties", JOM, Vol.67, No.5, 2015, pp.1054-1063

   P. Edwards and M. Ramulu., "Fatigue Performance of Friction Stir Welded Ti-6Al-4V Subjected to Various Post Weld Heat Treatment Temperatures", International Journal of Fatigue, Vol.75, 2015, pp.19-27

   P.Edwards and M. Ramulu, "Fatigue Performance of Friction Stir Welded Titanium Structural Joints" International Journal of Fatigue, Vol. 70, 2015, pp.171-177

   P. D. Edwards and M. Ramulu., "Effect of Process Conditions on Superplastic Forming Behavior in Titanium 6Al-4V Friction Stir Welds" Science and Technology of Welding & Joining.Vol. 14, No.7, 2009, pp. 669-680

   D. Sanders, M. Ramulu, P.Edwards, "Superplastic Forming of Friction Stir Welds in Titanium Alloy 6Al-4V: preliminary results", Mat.-wiss. u. Werkstofftech. Vol.39, No. 4, 2008, pp.1-5

   D.G.Sanders and M. Ramulu, "Examination of Superplastc Forming Combined with Diffusion Bonding for Titanium: Perspective from Experience", Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance, Vol. 13, No.6, 2004, pp.744-752

   P.Edwards and M. Ramulu, "Identification of Process Parameters for Ti-6Al-4V Alloy Friction Stir Welding" ASME Journal of Engineering Materials and Technology, Vol.132, No. 3, 2010, pp.031006-1to 031006-10

Honors & awards

• Isadore T. Davis Award for Excellence in Collaboration of Engineering Education and Industry
• UW Distinguished Contribution to Life Long Learning Award
• Faculty Excellence Award from the UW Minority Science & Engineering Program
• AT&T Foundation Award for excellence in instruction of Engineering
• SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award
• ASM-IIM International Lectureship Award
• NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award
• ASM Fellow, 1999
• ASME Fellow, 1995
• SEM Fellow, 1998
• SME Fellow, 2007
• Washington State Academy of Sciences, 2015

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