From the Editor

Institute News

Dear Members,
Welcome to the March/April issue of “Corrosion Management”.

We celebrated International Women’s Day on 8th March, and while compiling the current issue of “Corrosion Management”, I felt immensely proud to feature technical articles by Heike Hoffmann and Michelle Robertson. My journey as the editor of CMJ has introduced me to many extraordinary women in the field of corrosion prevention making remarkable contributions to STEM. Their dedication and achievements strengthen my belief that the future is bright for women in science and engineering.

The first article, “Microbial analysis of biofilm samples from FPSO mooring chains for assessment of microbiologically influenced corrosion risk”, is written by Michelle Robertson of NCIMB. This study investigates microbial biofilm samples retrieved from mooring chains offshore West Africa to assess MIC risk. Utilising qPCR and 16S amplicon sequencing, the analysis revealed a high prevalence of sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB), strongly implicating MIC in the observed pitting corrosion.

Heike Hoffmann of Intertek has contributed the technical article “Microbes vs. pipelines: using molecular methods to track corrosion culprits”. This study explores the application of advanced molecular techniques, such as Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and quantitative PCR (qPCR), to better characterize microbial communities contributing to MIC. The study underscores the need for a holistic approach to MIC detection and prevention, ultimately enhancing pipeline longevity and operational reliability.

The 3rd technical article “The importance of MIC monitoring “ by Dr Tony Rizk our ICorr MIC course tutor highlights the importance of microbial monitoring as a crucial preventive measure to mitigate MIC-related failures. The paper explores various sampling techniques, and the findings suggest that integrating microbial, geochemical, and corrosion assessments can enhance the long-term integrity of industrial systems.

Preceding all this in our “Ask the expert” section, Dr Ali Morshed of our London Branch committee has thoroughly described “Why effective MIC control is still a major challenge for many oil and gas assets.”

We invite you to contribute to our upcoming issues. Whether it’s industry news, technical articles, or striking images for our “Corrosion Around Us” feature, your submissions are always welcome. We would also be delighted to receive entries from ICorr Members, for our “Ask the Expert” and “Fellow’s Corner.”

With kindest regards,
Dr Shagufta Khan, FICorr 

Consulting Editor
editor@icorr.org


ICorr Aberdeen: Holds a Joint Meeting with BINDT

Institute News

On Tuesday, 25th February 2025, the Aberdeen Branch, in a joint meeting with BINDT North-East Scotland, welcomed a talk by Paul Holloway, P.Eng., CGSB UT Level 3, PCN PAUT Level 3, entitled ‘Development of Phased Array Pitch-Catch Technique for Assessment of Contact Point Corrosion on Pipe and Vessel Supports.’

Paul Holloway, President of Holloway NDT and Engineering Inc., is a Professional Engineer and UT Level 3 certified, based out of Ontario, Canada, providing advanced ultrasonic field services, R&D, training, and consulting.

He holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and has over 20 years’ experience in ultrasonic testing. He holds numerous international patents and trademarks, including for the PA-CAT technique and various calibration blocks in collaboration with PH Tool. Paul regularly publishes articles for industry journals and hosts a popular ‘You Tube’ channel related to his UT work.

The British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing (BINDT) also publishes training material on this topic and readers may refer to: Phased array ultrasonic testing.

Contact point corrosion is a very common problem in piping and vessel applications. Assets supported by beams, U-bolts or saddles can be subject to localised corrosion at the touch points. The environment may accelerate corrosion where paint blisters and corrosion products form. Contact point corrosion inspection remains a challenging problem as the area of interest is normally inaccessible to traditional methods.

Photo: CUPS – Contact Point Corrosion.
A phased array technique has been developed which uses phased array ultrasonic technology to address contact point corrosion. The technique uses standard instrumentation and probes in a pitch-catch arrangement. Analysis is performed automatically using a novel, cloud-based modelling algorithm. The methodology is currently being used worldwide by NDT service providers using a variety of instrumentation.

Photo: Pitch Catch Attenuation.
There are a number of challenges with Piezoelectric UT techniques:

• Coatings and surface condition
• Coupling of probes to material
• Morphology of the corrosion defects
• Scanner access to restricted areas

The technique can be utilised in both the axial and circumferential beam directions. Some challenges were discovered during development when inspecting in the axial direction. Attenuation regions aligned along the pipe axis at various clock positions were significantly more prominent in seamless pipe versus welded pipe. These localised regions produce significant attenuation artefacts which are then superimposed on the data used for corrosion profile analysis.

Photo: Example of Pitch-Catch Response: Material Artefacts in Welded Pipe vs Seamless Pipe.
Developments have also been made in Pulse echo Edge detection. Images of known or exposed defects can be used to calibrate and verify the techniques and the probe findings from Pulse echo edge detection can be superimposed over the images. This progression has helped service providers to better co-ordinate the echo data with the likely morphology and defect type.

Figure 4: Pulse-Echo Edge Detection.
Little or no reliable information can be correlated to absolute corrosion depth from only pulse-echo amplitude responses. Small, notch-like discrete pitting will always reflect more sound than gradual, blended soft corrosion. However, mathematical summing of carefully selected B-scan data can, in some cases, produce useful morphology information, including width.

Holloway NDT and Engineering have also developed techniques in B-scan Tracking. On pipe with little or no variances in material properties and manufacturing tolerances, the corrosion area is easily discernible from the nominal signature. The B-scan data exhibits straight-line, easy to follow paths which then get distorted at the corroded area.

On noisy pipe amplitude fluctuations unrelated to the corrosion may produce errors in the calculated river bottom profile, usually resulting in over-estimation of wall loss while the amplitude fluctuations exist on the B-scan data, the relative position of each echo peak remains consistent until the corroded area.

Photo: B-Scan Tracking Images of PIPE with Little or no Variance in Properties vs ‘Noisy’ Pipe with Material Variations.

Benefits of the Techniques Here are Mainly:

• No new box required (use of existing equipment).
• The technique gives truly quantitative results.
• The analysis is automated and there is no complicated calibration like other instrumental techniques.

Some of the challenges remain the same but these are largely related to coatings and coupling of the scanners/probes, access/configuration and limits of seamless piping.

The Aberdeen Branch would like to thank Paul for his excellent Presentation that was very well supported with over 70 attendees, and which generated many questions from the Audience.

The President Writes

Institute News

Dear Members,
As we step into 2025, I am delighted to share some of the recent activities and exciting developments within ICorr. The past few months have been incredibly dynamic, and I am confident that our momentum will only continue to grow. ICorr has been highly active in organising and hosting events at the branch level. In January and February alone, we successfully conducted six events each month, followed by three in March. The level of engagement and participation has been outstanding, and I look forward to seeing even more events taking place in the coming months. It has been my great pleasure to attend in-person events in Aberdeen, Grangemouth, Manchester and London. These gatherings provided an excellent platform for me to present the latest developments within ICorr and interact directly with local branch committee members and attendees. The enthusiasm and dedication of our members are truly commendable, and I am eager to visit more branch events in the future.

January 2025 marked a significant milestone for ICorr with the successful launch of our first overseas branch, ICorr India. Building on this achievement, ICorr has been actively preparing for the upcoming launch of our UAE branch, scheduled for May 2025. This expansion underscores our commitment to fostering a global corrosion management network and strengthening our presence in key regions.
I am also pleased to announce that, after a meticulous selection process, an Interim Chair has been appointed for the ICorr Yorkshire-Humber branch and AGM will be held locally soon. Many congratulations to Dr Joshua Owen, Lecturer at Leeds University, on his appointment. I look forward to working closely with the new Chair and the branch committee. I am very sure he will lead the branch to future successes.
Supporting the next generation of corrosion professionals remains a key priority for ICorr and to this end, ICorr, with the sponsorship from BP, is proud to sponsor six winners from the 2022 and 2024 YEP – Young Engineer Programmes to attend the AMPP Conference in Nashville, TN, USA in April. This opportunity will provide these talented individuals with invaluable exposure, learning experiences, and networking within the international corrosion community.

Another landmark initiative is the upcoming First UK-China Corrosion Summit, set to take place in Manchester on 3-4 September 2025. The chosen theme, “AI Impacts on Corrosion Management within the UK-China Energy Industry,” highlights the increasing role of artificial intelligence in our field and the collaborative opportunities it presents between the UK and China. Additionally, ICorr has signed three Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with key event organisers, reinforcing our role as a supporting partner for major materials, corrosion, and integrity conferences in the Middle East. These include:

• 
STATIC ARABIA in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia (May 2025)
– https://staticarabia.com/
• 
AIMCS Expo, Asset Integrity Management in Abu Dhabi, UAE (June 2025) – https://aimcsexpo.com/
• 
Oman Corrosion and Material Innovation Summit in Muscat, Oman (September 2025) – https://www.omcorr.com/

These partnerships further strengthen ICorr’s influence in the global corrosion industry, opening doors for collaboration and knowledge exchange on an international scale.

As we move forward in 2025, I am excited about the opportunities ahead and our ongoing efforts to advance corrosion science and engineering. I encourage all members to stay involved, take part in upcoming events, and contribute to our shared success. As always, I welcome you to share your thoughts, insights, and aspirations for the Institute by reaching out to me at president@icorr.org Your input is essential to our continued growth and achievements.

Please do get involved in our upcoming activities and keep an eye on the ICorr Events Calendar at https://www.icorr.org/events/Thank you for your unwavering support, and I look forward to seeing many of you at our future gatherings.

With best regards, Dr. Yunnan Gao,
President: Institute of Corrosion
email: president@icorr.org

Photo: Dr Yunnan Gao.