Department of Materials Science & Engineering

About Department

The Department of Materials Science & Engineering (DMSE) was established in 2021 with a vision to Skill Pakistan. Materials are the foundation for social progress, for state security and for a strong national economy, therefore, materials-oriented research together with its educational level reflects the comprehensive strength of a country. Materials are the foundation of a wide range of industries and have been the driving force for technological development. To become a world class university in the 21st century, PAF-IAST has started materials research and materials education to a world-class level.

The department is concerned not only in designing, making, and characterizing new materials but also in improving the existing materials to have a societal impact. The department offers a blend of teaching techniques, with a high proportion of lectures given by faculty members who gained one of the highest materials research ratings. PAF-IAST has its collaboration with top-notch Austrian and Chinese universities; thus, the program is designed according to the international standards so that the students are equipped with fundamental and applied knowledge of materials.

Faculty members provide students with an understanding of the structures, processes and mechanisms that affect material properties. They challenge students to become innovators. By the end of degree students are ready to prepare materials required for unimpeded progress of technology.

Our Vision

To provide quality education with practical experience as per international standards and bridge academia-industry linkages.

Our Mission

The Department of Materials Science & Engineering is committed to providing quality education through fundamental engineering knowledge and project-based learning. The department aims to prepare graduates who have entrepreneurial acumen and professional skills to provide engineering solutions, by working closely with the relevant industries such extractive metallurgical, mineral processing etc. and research institutes.

Degree Programs Offered

Faculty of DMSE

Lab Facilities

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering comprises of dedicated and shared labs. Wide range of laboratory equipment engaged for research and teaching for undergrad and postgrad students. DMSE Labs are also equipped with testing facilities that can facilitate relevant industries and organizations to perform industrial projects and pave a way forward for a strong industry-academia linkage. Following is the List of Dedicated Labs within the department and Shared Labs with other departments of the institute.

Dedicated Labs

These dedicated labs are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment for testing, processing, characterization, and analysis of various types of materials (Metals, Polymers, Ceramics etc.).

Sample Preparation Lab

Equipment Name

Benchtop precision cutter

Hot mounting press

Vacuum impregnation unit for cold mounting

Single wheel grinder/polisher

Double wheel grinder/polisher

Fume hood

Laboratory oven

Optical Microscopy Lab

Equipment Name

Metallurgical Microscopes Basic

Metallurgical Polarizer Microscopes

Trinocular stereo zoom Microscopes

Mechanical Testing Lab

Equipment Name

Rock well hardness Tester

Brinell hardness Tester

Vickers hardness Tester

UTM 30 KN

Fatigue testing machine

Creep testing machine

Torsion testing machine

Impact tester for Polymers

Impact tester for Metals

Engineering Mechanics Lab

Heat Treatment Lab

Equipment Name

Muffle furnaces 1700OC

Muffle furnaces 1200OC

Tube furnaces 1200OC

Tube furnaces 1700OC

Top loading furnace 1200 OC

Engineering Drawing & Graphics/Computer Lab

Computer and Engineering Drawing lab consists of following equipment

Equipment Name

Desktop Computers

Wide Screen LED TVs

Shared Labs

Shared Lab equipment contains relevant equipment for basic science subjects i.e., physics, chemistry, workshop practice, welding, and electronics. For Physics, it consists of an Applied physics lab. Chemistry involves Organic and Inorganic Lab, Thermodynamics lab. Electronics consists of a basic electrical engineering lab.

Applied Physics Lab

Electrical Engineering Lab

In-organic & Organic Chemistry

Organic and inorganic Chemistry lab

1) UV visible

2) Oil bath

3) Hot plate with magnetic stirrer

4) weight balance analytical

5) evaporator with vacuum pump

6) Dessicator with vacuum pump

7) bomb calorimeter

8) mechanical shaker

9) UV lamp

10) furnace

Workshop Practice & Welding

Workshop practice and Welding Equipment

Milling machine

CNC Milling machine

Lathe Machine

Shaper Machine

Piller drill machine

TIG Welding

MIG Welding

Arc Welding

Strengths & Features

International-Quality Training

The teaching faculty are being hired through a highly competitive process, involving active expert assessment by partner universities abroad. For the implementation of the Fachhochschule model of education, faculty members of the institute, with PhDs from premier foreign universities, will attend at the partner universities in Austria and China intensive training related to specific pedagogical and managerial skills.

The Technology Park

The PAF-IAST programs are closely integrated with a parallel program for the development of technology-driven enterprises. For the holistic achievement of the concept, it is necessary to dovetail the institute’s educational infrastructure with a corresponding and compatible growth in the high-technology industry in tandem. To meet this critical need, PAF-IAST has a sound plan in place to build on its state-of-the-art campus an Innovation Technology Park. To boost innovation, every faculty member, trained in Austria and China, will be offered an average grant of USD 50,000 for developing new projects in the Innovation Park. A sum of 10 million USD has already been set aside for this purpose. The new projects, which will be implemented largely in collaboration with scientists of Austrian and Chinese partner universities, could potentially lead to joint patenting and industrial production.

Equivalence with Standards in the Developed World

To ensure quality, subject to the approval of accreditation bodies of Pakistan and the partner universities in Austria and China, double degrees will be awarded to students. The collaborator universities will be responsible to ensure that the teaching and research programs at PAF-IAST, in all essentials, are equivalent to theirs. Equivalence will be achieved by following identical syllabi, laboratory experiments, and assessment mechanisms. For maintenance of requisite standards, the accreditation agency in the partner country shall be involved to assess at regular intervals the quality of instruction at PAF-IAST. The equivalence of degrees will be the key determinant that the graduates of PAF-IAST have acquired education of international standards comparable to that of the graduates from the collaborator universities in Austria or China. In other words, there shall be no quality gap between the Pakistani graduate engineers and the engineers who graduated from the partner universities. Eventually, equivalence will be demonstrated, recognized, and accepted by all stakeholders in the program in those degrees of the collaborator institutions will be awardable to all such graduates as can qualify the academic standards set forth by the relevant accreditation councils.

Faculty Development

Under the HRD program, during phases 1, 2, and 3, around 200 faculty members will be trained in Austria/China for periods of up to 6 months. Those holding M S/MPhil or equivalent degrees will be sent to technical universities in Austria and China on 4-year Ph.D. programs in relevant disciplines.