Carnegie Mellon University

Rahul Panat

Rahul Panat

Russell V. Trader Career Development Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering

  • Scaife Hall 316
Address
Carnegie Mellon University Mechanical Engineering
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Bio

Rahul Panat is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). He received his MS in mechanical engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and PhD in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). 

After his PhD, Dr. Panat worked at Intel Corporation, Chandler, AZ, for a decade in the area of microprocessor manufacturing R&D (2004-2014). His work at Intel included research on next generation high density interconnects, thinning of Si, 3-D packaging, lead free, and halogen free ICs. He also worked on embedded passives for ultra-high-performance microprocessors. He won several awards for his work at Intel, including an award for developing manufacturing processes for world’s first fully green IC chip in 2007. From 2012-2014, he was an adjunct faculty at the Arizona State University and worked in the area of Li-ion batteries. He moved to academics in 2014 and joined the Washington State University, Pullman, to start working in the areas of additive manufacturing and printed/flexible electronics before moving to CMU in 2017. 

Education

BS, Mechanical Engineering, Pune University, India, 1997
MS, Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1999
PhD, Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, University of Illinois, Urbana, 2004

Research

Research in Panat lab is focused on using the knowledge of material behavior and mechanics to design novel manufacturing methods for various applications. The research has three primary thrust areas, namely, microscale additive manufacturing, flexible and printed microelectronics, and advanced energy materials. The research aims to enhance the fundamental scientific knowledge and create engineering breakthroughs in several important applications. Research will enable ‘designer’ materials that can have unusual mechanical properties such as high strength but ultra-low weight and are highly desirable for structural applications. The research will also help realize high performance high temperature sensors and improved energy storage solutions. Lastly, the research will help enable low-cost wearable devices such as bio-patches and robotic skin.

Several fundamental problems are being addressed in Panat lab in order to enable critical technologies and applications. We recently mimicked the natural process of the formation of ‘Desert Roses’ in Namibian desert to develop a breakthrough additive manufacturing method that can make 3-D hierarchical materials with structural control from hundreds of nanometers to several millimeters! This method helps fabricate strain tolerant and fast charging Li-ion batteries and topologically optimized materials. We also used the concept of periodic bonding of a metal sheet to polymer substrate in order to confine the deformation of the metal sheet to narrow bands, thus reducing the gauge length to scales lower than that required for the deformation processes involved in plastic instability. This resulted in the first demonstration of stretching of a metal sheet to double its original length without failure; a breakthrough that will enable stretchable interconnects for wearable electronics.

To understand the effect of manufacturing processes on the mechanical and electrical properties of the structures, we use several material characterization techniques such as SEM, TEM, EDX, impedance spectroscopy, and XRD. These insights, in turn, lead to methods that can be used to tailor materials with desired properties. We also use several advanced manufacturing methods such as Aerosol Jet based 3D printing, photonic sintering, and atmospheric plasma etch etc. Currently, Panat lab is looking to hire several PhD students to work in these areas of research.

Publications

See complete publication list on Google Scholar.

  • M. Sadeq Saleh, C. Hu, and R. Panat, “Three dimensional micro-architected materials and devices using nanoparticle assembly by pointwise spatial printing”, Science Advances, 3, e1601986 (2017). http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1601986
  • H. Yang, M. T. Rahman, D. Du, R. Panat, and Y. Lin, “3-D printed adjustable microelectrode arrays for electrochemical sensing and biosensing”, Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, Vol. 230, 600-606 (2016). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.snb.2016.02.113
  • Y. Arafat, I. Dutta, R. Panat, “Super-stretchable metallic interconnects on polymer with a linear strain of up to 100%” Applied Physics Letters, 107, 081906 (2015). http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4929605
  • M. T. Rahman, L. Renaud, M. Renn, D. Heo, R. Panat, “Aerosol based direct-write micro-additive fabrication method for sub-mm 3-D metal-dielectric structures”, Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, Vol. 25 (10), pp. 107002 (2015). http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0960-1317/25/10/107002
  • R. Panat, “A model for crack initiation in the Li-ion battery electrodes”, Thin Solid Films, Vol. 596, pp. 174-178 (2015). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2015.07.066
  • Z. Song, T. Ma, R Tang, Q. Cheng, X. Wang, D. Krishnaraju, R. Panat, C. K. Chan, H. Yu, and H. Jiang, “Origami Lithium Ion Batteries”, Nature Communications, 5:3140, 10.1038/ncomms4140 (2014).

Recognition and Honors

MRS Gold Medal, 2002
Recognition award at Intel Corporation for developing manufacturing processes for first fully ‘green’ IC chip, 2007