Multifunctional and Smart Materials

Multifunctional and Smart Materials presents advancements in multifunctional, sustainable, and smart materials that enhance performance and improve processes across a wide range of engineering fields, including renewable energy, automotive, and aerospace. It provides a comprehensive overview of material design, properties, and emerging applications.

Offering a deep dive into sustainable materials, this book addresses how eco-friendly, recyclable, and renewable materials are reducing environmental impact and contributing to a circular economy. It explores advanced materials that perform multiple functions, such as power generation, energy storage, and structural integrity. This book highlights recent developments in materials research from 3D-printed materials for enhanced efficiency and waste reduction in manufacturing processes to smart coatings for multifunctional protection against environmental and operational stresses.

This book is intended for researchers and graduate students studying advanced materials and multidisciplinary engineering applications for intelligent, eco-friendly, and multipurpose materials.

Prof. (Dr.) Hitesh Vasudev, Ph.D., is working as a Professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab, India. He has received his Ph.D. degree from Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, India, in 2018 under the guidance of Prof. (Dr.) Harmeet Singh, GNDEC, Ludhiana and Dr. Lalit Thakur, NIT, Kurukshetra. He was listed in the World’s Top 2% Scientists published by Stanford University and Elsevier in 2023, 2024 and 2025. His research areas include surface engineering/thermal spraying (high‑elocity oxy‑uel spraying, flame spray, cold spray, plasma spray, and microwave claddings). Currently, he is working on the development of Nano‑tructured || Multi‑odal || High‑ntropy alloys coatings for high‑emperature oxidation and corrosion resistance‑hermal Barrier Coatings (TBCs) and Microwave processing of materials. He has guided 12 Ph.D. scholars and is currently supervising 08 Ph.D scholars in the area of Surface Engineering.

Dr. Gurbhej Singh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Amritsar Group of Colleges, Amritsar, Punjab, India. Dr. Singh received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and specializes in surface engineering, with a focus on microwave claddings and materials processing using microwave energy (including joining, cladding, casting, etc.). His research interests also include manufacturing science, materials characterization, surface biomedical implants, biomaterials processing, polymeric composites, and nanocomposites. He has published more than 50 research papers and was recently honored with the “Top Cited Paper Awards India 2022” in the review category. In addition, he has contributed to numerous conference papers and book chapters’. Singh is actively involved in the research community, serving as a reviewer for various reputed journals. He has over 10 years of teaching experience and serves as a Guest Editor for several journals. He also holds multiple patents and is the editor of several books. Dr. Singh has organized numerous international and national conferences and also organized an AICTE-sponsored Faculty Development Programme (FDP) in 2025. He has guided many M.Tech. students and is currently supervising four Ph.D. scholars.