GATE Syllabus ~ I ❤️ Metallurgy

GATE Syllabus for Metallurgical Engineering

GATE Metallurgical Engineering syllabus is divided into 6 sections as mentioned below:

Laws of thermodynamics: First law – energy conservation, Second law - entropy; Enthalpy, Gibbs and Helmholtz free energy; Maxwell’s relations; Chemical potential; Applications to metallurgical systems, solutions, ideal and regular solutions; Gibbs phase rule, phase equilibria, binary phase diagram and lever rule, free-energy vs. composition diagrams; Equilibrium constant, Activity, Ellingham and phase stability diagrams; Thermodynamics of point defects, surfaces and interfaces, adsorption and segregation phenomena.
Electrochemistry: Single electrode potential, Electrochemical cells, Nernst equation, Potential-pH diagrams

Momentum transfer: Concept of viscosity, shell balances, Bernoulli’s equation, mechanical energy balance equation, flow past plane surfaces and through pipes.
Heat transfer: Conduction, Fourier’s Law, 1-D steady state conduction
Convection: Heat transfer coefficient relations for forced convection
Radiation: Black body radiation, Stefan-Boltzman Law, Kirchhoff’s Law
Mass transfer: Diffusion and Fick’s laws, Mass transfer coefficients
Dimensional analysis: Buckingham Pi theorem, Significance of dimensionless numbers
Basic laws of chemical kinetics: First order reactions, reaction rate constant, Arrhenius relation, heterogeneous reactions, oxidation kinetics
Electrochemical kinetics: Polarization

Comminution techniques, Size classification, Flotation, Gravity and other methods of mineral beneficiation; Agglomeration: sintering, pelletizing and briquetting
Material and Energy balances in metallurgical processes; Principles and processes for the extraction of non- ferrous metals – aluminum, copper and titanium
Iron and steel making: Material and heat balance in blast furnace; Structure and properties of slags and molten salts – basicity of slags - sulphide and phosphate capacity of slags; Production of metallurgical coke
Other methods of iron making (COREX, MIDRE)
Primary steel making: Basic oxygen furnace, process dynamics, oxidation reactions, electric arc furnace
Secondary steel making: Ladle process – deoxidation, argon stirring, desulphurization, inclusion shape control, principles of degassing methods; Basics of stainless steel manufacturing
Continuous Casting: Fluid flow in the tundish and mould, heat transfer in the mould, segregation, inclusion control

Chemical Bonding: Ionic, covalent, metallic, and secondary bonding in materials, Crystal structure of solids – metals and alloys, ionic and covalent solids, and polymers
X-ray Diffraction – Bragg’s law, optical metallography, principles of SEM imaging
Crystal Imperfections: Point, line and surface defects; Coherent, semi-coherent and incoherent interfaces
Diffusion in solids: Diffusion equation, steady state and error function solutions; Examples- homogenization and carburization; Kirkendall effect; Uphill diffusion; Atomic models for interstitial and substitutional diffusion; Pipe diffusion and grain boundary diffusion
Phase transformation: Driving force, Homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation, growth kinetics
Solidification in isomorphous, eutectic and peritectic systems, cast structures and macrosegregation, dendritic solidification and constitutional supercooling, coring and microsegregation
Solid state transformations: Precipitation, spinoidal decomposition, ordering, massive transformation, discontinuous precipitation, eutectoid transformation, diffusionless transformations; Precipitate coarsening, Gibbs-Thomson effect
Principles of heat treatment of steels, TTT and CCT diagrams; Surface hardening treatments; Recovery, recrystallization and grain growth; Heat treatment of cast iron and aluminium alloys
Electronic, magnetic and optical properties of materials
Basic forms of corrosion and its prevention

Strain tensor and stress tensor, Representation by Mohr’s circle, elasticity, stiffness and compliance tensor, Yield criteria, Plastic deformation by slip and twinning
Dislocation theory: Edge, screw and mixed dislocations, source and multiplication of dislocations, stress fields around dislocations; Partial dislocations, dislocation interactions and reactions
Strengthening mechanisms: Work/strain hardening, strengthening due to grain boundaries, solid solution, precipitation and dispersion
Fracture behaviour, Griffith theory, linear elastic fracture mechanics, fracture toughness, fractography, ductile to brittle transition
Fatigue: Cyclic stress strain behaviour - low and high cycle fatigue, crack growth
Mechanisms of high temperature deformation and failure; creep and stress rupture, stress exponent and activation energy

Metal casting: Mould design involving feeding, gating and risering, casting practices, casting defects
Hot, warm and cold working of metals: Metal forming – fundamentals of metal forming processes of rolling, forging, extrusion, wire drawing and sheet metal forming, defects in forming
Metal joining: Principles of soldering, brazing and welding, welding metallurgy, defects in welded joints in steels and aluminum alloys
Powder metallurgy: production of powders, compaction and sintering
Non-destructive Testing (NDT): Dye-penetrant, ultrasonic, radiography, eddy current, acoustic emission and magnetic particle inspection methods