Dr. Prabhu Ramanujam

Dr. Prabhu Ramanujam is currently working as a Technical Sales Specialist (General Manager – Advanced Ceramics) at Hindalco Industries Limited, India, a flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group. In this role, he drives global technical sales, application development, and market expansion for advanced ceramic materials, working closely with customers, R&D, and manufacturing teams to translate materials science into scalable industrial solutions. Previously, Dr. Ramanujam served as Head of R&D at Wendt India Limited (Murugappa Group – 3M Joint Venture) for 5 years, where he led new product development, process innovation, and commercialization of advanced ceramic and abrasive materials. His leadership played a key role in strengthening the company’s technology pipeline and customer-facing innovation. Earlier in his career, he was a Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham and Loughborough University, UK, for over three years, working on defense and aerospace-related ceramic materials in close collaboration with DSTL (UK) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), USA. Dr. Ramanujam holds a PhD in Materials Science from Loughborough University, UK, and a Master’s degree in Materials Science and Ceramic Technology from Anna University, Chennai. His research and industrial expertise span oxide and non-oxide ceramic powder synthesis, including Bayer process–derived alumina, hydrothermal and solvothermal synthesis, co-precipitation, and sol–gel routes. He has developed and scaled materials such as Alumina, Boehmite, Aluminium Nitride (AlN), YAG, YSZ, BMT, BZT, BLZT, KNN, and other functional ceramic powders. Dr. Ramanujam’s core strengths include colloidal processing of ceramics, advanced sintering methodologies (hot pressing, hot isostatic pressing, and flash sintering), electroceramics, wear-resistant ceramics, catalyst supports, and ultra-high temperature ceramic (UHTC) composites for hypersonic applications. He also has deep expertise in surface engineering for aerospace and automotive applications and industrial-scale ceramic manufacturing.