Abdus Sattar Khan


Abdus Suttar Khan was a Bangladeshi scientist. He researched on aerospace for four decades with NASA, United Technology, and Alstom, a French power generation company. Khan invented more than forty different alloys for commercial application in space shuttles, jet engines, train engines and industrial gas turbines.

Early life and education

Khan was born in Khagatua village, PS Nabinagar, Brahmanbaria District, British India. He attended Ratanpur High School and did his intermediate at Comilla Victoria College. After graduating at the top of his class from University of Dhaka with a Bachelor of Science in 1962 and master's degree in chemistry in 1963, Khan joined the Chemistry department as a lecturer at the same university. In 1964, he accepted a scholarship to study in Oxford University and received his PhD degree in chemistry in 1968. Following his PhD, Khan returned to the Chemistry department of DU as an associate professor and worked there until 1973. That year, he left Bangladesh to conduct research in the field of materials engineering in the United States.

Professional work

During his career, Khan invented more than forty different alloys. These alloys are designed for the use in the area of high temperature, such as blades of gas turbine or jet engines. They are coated with environmentally resistant coatings to provide protection from oxidation and/or corrosion, high temperature, to provide wear resistance etc.
These have been commercially applied in space shuttles, advanced commercial jet engines, and US air force jet engines. These alloys made engines lighter, which enabled the aircraft to fly faster. Khan's work in Switzerland also involved alloys, which increased the speed of train engines and industrial gas turbines.
One of Khan's inventions, high strength nickel based alloys, were used for increased fuel efficiency in F-15 and F-16 fighter engines. Subsequently, these alloys were declared as 21st Century materials for advanced aircraft engines in the Advanced Manufacturing and Materials Magazine.

Commercial products developed

  1. Nano-catalysts developed are used for in fuel flow path in advanced jet engines for high mach propulsion
  2. Advanced abrasion resistant materials developed are used for increased fuel efficiencies of US AF fighter engines
  3. Corrosion & fatigue resistant coatings deposited by cathodic arc process is used in advanced commercial in Pratt & Whiney jet engines
  4. Electrodeposited wear resistant coatings developed is used in advanced GT24/26 industrial gas turbine engines by Alstom, Switzerland
  5. Electrodeposited oxidation-corrosion resistant coatings used by Alstom, Switzerland in Alstom Power GT-11 industrial gas turbine engines

    Awards and achievements

For Khan's outstanding research and its application in aerospace, he received numerous prestigious awards from NASA, the US Air Force, United Technology, and Alstom. In addition to these achievements, Khan was a Chartered Scientist of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and a member of the American Society of Metals.
Some of his important awards and recognitions include:
During his retired life, Khan was conducting research as an honorary professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Florida State University. While researching there, he tried to establish a Center of Excellence in nanomaterials for research in the area of carbon nanotechnology for applications in materials science and biomaterial technology.

Social achievements

Besides his scientific achievements, Khan was also involved in community services in the United States. Khan was the founder of the Bangladeshi Association of Florida and organised numerous Asian community events. In 1991, he raised $61,000 for Bangladeshi flood victims and donated these funds to the Red Cross. Khan also established a cooperative agreement between Dhaka University and Lamar University in Texas to train faculty members and graduate students of DU.