PNNL

I study materials under different environments to understand why they behave the way they behave. The electronic and atomic arrangements can almost always explain the physical behavior of a material. My job and interests drive me to look into materials like various metals and alloys from the bulk scale to atomic scales.

My current research includes:

•Multi-modal study of microstructural evolution under shear deformation.

•In situ gas-metal reactions to capture the early stages of phase transformations using reaction chambers in transmission electron microscopes and atom probe tomography instruments.

•Microstructural characterization of phase evolution in high-entropy alloys, nickel-based superalloys, beta Ti alloys, and bulk metallic glasses under extreme environments such as high temperature, pressure, oxidation, and so on.

•Study of factors affecting shear localization–microstructure-property correlation.

•Investigation of deformation mechanisms in metallic quasi-static materials and high-strain rate loading (using split Hopkinson pressure bar).

•Identification of potential material vulnerabilities—quantifying material damage evolution using multiscale microstructural and mechanical characterization techniques.

•Implementation of combinatorial techniques for high-throughput analysis and compositionally graded alloy deposition using laser engineering near-net shaping for rapid microstructure-property assessment.

•In situ analysis of phase transformations and failure mechanisms using synchrotron X-ray diffraction.

• Electron Microscopy
• Atom Probe Tomography
• High-Temperature Materials
• Materials Characterization
• Materials Manufacturing
• Materials Testing
• Solid Phase Processing Methods
• X-ray Diffraction Analysis
• Focused Ion Bean
• In Situ Transmission Electron Microscopy

• PhD in Materials Science & Engineering, University of North Texas, Denton (2017)
• B. Tech in Metallurgical/Material Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Jaipur India (2010)
   

Appointments

• Materials Scientist-II, Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate (PCSD), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 2021–present
• Postdoctoral Researcher, PCSD, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 2019–2020
• Postdoctoral Researcher, University of North Texas, Denton, 2017–2019
• Graduate Research Assistant, University of North Texas, Denton, 2013–2017
• Junior Manager, Steel Authority of India Limited, Bokaro Steel Plant, India, 2011–2013
• Associate Manager, Jindal Stainless Limited, Hisar, India, 2010–2011

• JOM: The Journal of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, Editor
• Crystals journal, Editor
• Frontiers in Materials journal, Editor
• Microscopy Society of America, Member
• International Field Emission Society, Member
• Phase Transformations Steering Committee, Member

• Special award from PCSD – Outstanding Performance Award, 2021.

• Special award from the Energy and Environment Directorate – Outstanding Performance Award, 2020.

• Special award from PCSD – Outstanding Performance Award, 2019.

• Founding secretary of the Postdoctoral Association at University of North Texas.

• Won the TMS Materials Bowl at the TMS Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 2017.

• First prize in poster presentation at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2016, “Grain Boundary Precipitation in Ni Based Superalloy 690 Investigated via Site-specific Atom Probe Microscopy,” 2016.

• Third prize in platform presentation at American Society for Metals (ASM) “Experimental investigation of ordering in a stoichiometric Ni-Cr alloy,” 2015.

• Runner-up at All India Managers Association, National Competition for Young Managers “Building Sustainable Indian MNCs – Agenda for Action,” 2011.

2022

• Gwalani B., M. Song, J.A. Silverstein, J.D. Escobar Atehortua, T. Wang, M. Pole, and K. Johnson, et al. 2022. "Thermal Stability and Mechanical Properties of Cold-Sprayed Nickel-Yttria Coating." Scripta Materialia 207. PNNL-SA-164643. doi:10.1016/j.scriptamat.2021.114281

2021

• Das H., P. Upadhyay, T. Wang, B. Gwalani, and X. Ma. 2021. "Interfacial reaction during friction stir assisted scribe welding of immiscible Fe and Mg alloy system." Scientific Reports 11, no. 1:1588. PNNL-SA-155716. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-81266-9
• Efe M., B. Gwalani, J. Tao, M. Song, T.C. Kaspar, A. Devaraj, and A. Rohatgi. 2021. "Nanomechanical Scratching Induced Local Shear Deformation and Microstructural Evolution in Single Crystalline Copper." Applied Surface Science 562. PNNL-SA-158843. doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2021.150132
• Escobar Atehortua J.D., B. Gwalani, M.J. Olszta, J.A. Silverstein, N.R. Overman, L. Bergmann, and J.F. Dos Santos, et al. 2021. "Multimodal Analysis of Spatially Heterogeneous Microstructural Refinement and Softening Mechanisms in Three-Pass Friction Stir Processed Al4Si Alloy." Journal of Alloys and Compounds 887. PNNL-SA-160439. doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2021.161351
• Gwalani B., S. Dasari, A. Sharma, V. Soni, S. Shukla, A. Jagetia, and P. Agrawal, et al. 2021. "High Density of Strong yet Deformable Intermetallic Nanorods Leads to an Excellent Room Temperature Strength-Ductility Combination in a High Entropy Alloy." Acta Materialia 219. PNNL-SA-165683. doi:10.1016/j.actamat.2021.117234
• Gwalani B., T. Torgerson, S. Dasari, A. Jagetia, M. Nartu, S. Gangireddy, and M. Pole, et al. 2021. "Influence of fine-scale B2 precipitation on dynamic compression and wear properties in hypo-eutectic Al0.5CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloy." Journal of Alloys and Compounds 853. PNNL-SA-154016. doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2020.157126
• Gwalani B., W. Fu, M.J. Olszta, J.A. Silverstein, D. Yadav, P. Manimunda, and A.D. Guzman, et al. 2021. "Lattice misorientation evolution and grain refinement in Al-Si alloys under high-strain shear deformation." Materialia 18. PNNL-SA-160821. doi:10.1016/j.mtla.2021.101146
• Jagetia A., M. Nartu, S. Dasari, A. Sharma, B. Gwalani, and R. Banerjee. 2021. "Ordering-Mediated Local Nano-Clustering Results in Unusually Large Hall-Petch Strengthening Coefficients in High Entropy Alloys." Materials Research Letters 9, no. 5:213-222. PNNL-SA-158679. doi:10.1080/21663831.2020.1871440
• Kaspar T.C., Q. Pang, P.V. Sushko, M.E. Bowden, J. Tao, B. Gwalani, and M.J. Olszta, et al. 2021. "Metastable orientation relationships in thin film Cu-Cr bilayers." Scripta Materialia 194. PNNL-SA-156813. doi:10.1016/j.scriptamat.2020.113635
• Kautz E.J., D.K. Schreiber, A. Devaraj, and B. Gwalani. 2021. "Mechanistic insights into selective oxidation and corrosion of multi-principal element alloys from high resolution and in situ microscopy." Materialia 18. PNNL-SA-160297. doi:10.1016/j.mtla.2021.101148
• Liu T., M.J. Olszta, B. Gwalani, C. Park, S. Mathaudhu, and A. Devaraj. 2021. "Phase Transformations, Microstructural Refinement and Defect Evolution Mechanisms in Al-Si Alloys under Non-Hydrostatic Diamond Anvil Cell Compression." Materialia 15. PNNL-SA-158218. doi:10.1016/j.mtla.2021.101049
• Oleksak R.P., R. Addou, B. Gwalani, J. Baltrus, T. Liu, J. Diulus, and A. Devaraj, et al. 2021. "Molecular-scale investigation of the oxidation behavior of chromia-forming alloys in high temperature CO2." npj Materials Degradation 5, no. 1:46. PNNL-SA-165464. doi:10.1038/s41529-021-00194-1
• Ozdogru B., Y. Cha, B. Gwalani, V. Murugesan, M. Song, and O. Ozgur Capraz. 2021. "In Situ Probing Potassium-ion Intercalation-induced Amorphization in Crystalline Iron Phosphate Cathode Materials." Nano Letters 21, no. 18:7579-7586. PNNL-SA-165478. doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02095
• Sharma A., B. Gwalani, S. Dasari, D. Choudhuri, Y. Chang, S. Gorsse, and A.C. Yeh, et al. 2021. "Insights into Defect-Mediated Nucleation of the Equilibrium B2 Phase in Face-Centered Cubic High-Entropy Alloys." JOM. The Journal of the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society 73, no. 8:2320 - 2331. PNNL-SA-161146. doi:10.1007/s11837-021-04754-3
• Wang T., S. Shukla, B. Gwalani, S. Sinha, S. Thapliyal, M. Frank, and R.S. Mishra. 2021. "Co-introduction of precipitate hardening and TRIP in a TWIP high-entropy alloy using friction stir alloying." Scientific Reports 11, no. 1:Article No.1579. PNNL-SA-159159. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-81350-0

2020

• Chaudhary V., V. Soni, B. Gwalani, R. Ramanujan, and R. Banerjee. 2020. "Influence of non-magnetic Cu on enhancing the low temperature magnetic properties and Curie temperature of FeCoNiCrCu(x) high entropy alloys." Scripta Materialia 182. PNNL-SA-151366. doi:10.1016/j.scriptamat.2020.02.037
• Dasari S., A. Jagetia, V. Soni, B. Gwalani, S. Gorsse, and R. Banerjee. 2020. "Engineering Transformation Pathways in an Al0.3CoFeNi Complex Concentrated Alloy Leads to Excellent Strength-Ductility Combination." Materials Research Letters 8, no. 11:399-407. PNNL-SA-153671. doi:10.1080/21663831.2020.1777215
• Dasari S., A. Jagetia, Y.J. Chang, V. Soni, B. Gwalani, S. Gorsse, and A.C. Yeh, et al. 2020. "Engineering Multi-scale B2 Precipitation in a Heterogeneous FCC Based Microstructure to Enhance the Mechanical Properties of a Al0.5Co1.5CrFeNi1.5 High Entropy Alloy." Journal of Alloys and Compounds 830. PNNL-SA-151346. doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2020.154707
• Dasari S., B. Gwalani, A. Jagetia, V. Soni, S. Gorsse, and R. Banerjee. 2020. "Hierarchical Eutectoid Nano-lamellar Decomposition in an Al0.3CoFeNi Complex Concentrated Alloy." Scientific Reports 10, no. 1:4836. PNNL-SA-147774. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-61538-6
• Gwalani B., D. Choudhuri, K. Liu, J. Lloyd, R.S. Mishra, and R. Banerjee. 2020. "Interplay between single phase solid solution strengthening and multi-phase strengthening in the same high entropy alloy." Materials Science and Engineering. A. Structural Materials: Properties, Microstructure and Processing 771. PNNL-SA-151355. doi:10.1016/j.msea.2019.138620
• Gwalani B., M.J. Olszta, S. Varma, L. Li, A. Soulami, E.J. Kautz, and S. Pathak, et al. 2020. "Extreme Shear-Deformation-Induced Modification of Defect Structures and Hierarchical Microstructure in an Al-Si Alloy." Communications Materials 1. PNNL-SA-153669. doi:10.1038/s43246-020-00087-x
• Gwalani B., T. Wang, A. Jagetia, S. Gangireddy, S. Muskeri, S. Mukherjee, and J. Lloyd, et al. 2020. "Dynamic shear deformation of a precipitation hardened Al0.7CoCrFeNi eutectic high-entropy alloy using hat-shaped specimen geometry." Entropy 22, no. 4:Article No. 431. PNNL-SA-151262. doi:10.3390/e22040431
• Hasannaeimi V., S. Muskeri, B. Gwalani, D. Hofmann, and S. Mukherjee. 2020. "Deformation behavior of metallic glass composites and plasticity accommodation at microstructural length-scales." Materials Today Communications 24. PNNL-SA-161040. doi:10.1016/j.mtcomm.2020.101237
• Kautz E.J., B. Gwalani, S.M. Lambeets, L. Kovarik, D.K. Schreiber, D.E. Perea, and D.J. Senor, et al. 2020. "Rapid assessment of structural and compositional changes during early stages of zirconium alloy oxidation." npj Materials Degradation 4, no. 1:Article No. 29. PNNL-SA-150333. doi:10.1038/s41529-020-00133-6
• Soni V., B. Gwalani, T. Alam, S. Dasari, Y. Zheng, O.N. Senkov, and D. Miracle, et al. 2020. "Phase Inversion in a Two-phase, BCC+B2, Refractory High Entropy Alloy." Acta Materialia 185. PNNL-SA-147457. doi:10.1016/j.actamat.2019.12.004
• Wang T., B. Gwalani, J.A. Silverstein, J.T. Darsell, S. Jana, T.J. Roosendaal, and A. Ortiz, et al. 2020. "Microstructural Assessment of a Multiple-Intermetallic-Strengthened Aluminum Alloy Produced from Gas-Atomized Powder by Hot Extrusion and Friction Extrusion." Materials 13, no. 23:Article No. 5333. PNNL-SA-154087. doi:10.3390/ma13235333

2019

• Dutt A., B. Gwalani, V. Tungala, M. Carl, R.S. Mishra, S. Tamirisakandala, and M. Young, et al. 2019. "A novel nano-particle strengthened titanium alloy with exceptional specific strength." Scientific Reports 9. PNNL-SA-147006. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-48139-8
• Gwalani B., R. Salloom, T. Alam, S. Valentin, X. Zhou, G.B. Thompson, and S.G. Srinivasan, et al. 2019. "Composition-dependent apparent activation-energy and sluggish grain-growth in high entropy alloys." Materials Research Letters 7, no. 7:267-274. PNNL-SA-145595. doi:10.1080/21663831.2019.1601644
• Gwalani B., S. Gangireddy, S. Shukla, C.J. Yannetta, S. Valentin, R.S. Mishra, and R. Banerjee. 2019. "Compositionally Graded High Entropy Alloy with a Strong front and ductile base." Materials Today Communications 20. PNNL-SA-151530. doi:10.1016/j.mtcomm.2019.100602
• Gwalani B., S. Gangireddy, Y. Zheng, V. Soni, R.S. Mishra, and R. Banerjee. 2019. "Influence of ordered L12 precipitation on strain-rate dependent mechanical behavior in a eutectic high entropy alloy." Scientific Reports 9. PNNL-SA-145678. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-42870-y