Institute News
Welcome to the Spring edition of the magazine. As you will see from the above President’s column, the magazine now has a new editor, who I am sure will continue to meet the needs of the members with topical columns and technical articles.
This issue contains a very extensive report on what your Institute has been doing over the last couple of months, as well as the usual columns and technical articles. These articles cover the problems associated with galvanic corrosion of wells in the Middle East, and a very instructive look at the problems of scale formation and associated corrosion.
As I said previously in my column, I have enjoyed editing this magazine, although difficult at times, and I am now going to enjoy relaxing in the “sun” in south London. I wish you all success in your careers in this fascinating industry.
Brian Goldie
Consulting Editor
Institute News
Welcome to the 2nd issue of our Magazine for 2023. A new editor has now been appointed, Dr Shagufta Khan FICorr, and to give her time to settle into the role, Brian Goldie, the outgoing editor, has very kindly agreed to stay in position for this issue. The May/June issue will be Shagufta’s first as editor, and Brian will assist her for the first two issues. Thank you to Brian for so much hard work and many congratulations to Shagufta, who may be contacted at: editor@icorr.org, if you have any news or technical articles to submit.
It has been a busy year so far, with a number of events having taken place already amongst our various Branches and Divisions.
After extensive discussions between Bill Hedges, John Fletcher, myself, and representatives of IMechE, l am delighted to say the new 10yr ICorr/IAR Training agreement was signed on 6th January 2023 by both parties, see later in this issue.
The Birmingham 1-Day conference on February 9th brought together many of our ICorr award winners, several of our sustaining companies and training providers, for some truly excellent presentations in the splendid setting of the City Chambers. A report on this can be found in the local branch news section.
Another development, now approved by Council, is the new Yong ICorr 8-week summer internship, established in honour of Professor Anne Neville, who sadly passed away in 2022. This new scheme commencing in 2024, will provide the opportunity for undergraduate students to experience corrosion research, initially in the Institute of Functional Surfaces, University of Leeds, under the supervision of Dr Joshua Owen and Prof Richard Barker, thereafter rotating to other Universities. The internship aims to inspire high achieving undergraduate students into careers in the field of corrosion.
Finally, but not least, we are looking to investigate, and fully research in Q2, whether a direct ICorr CEng offering can be progressed over the short to medium term. It is believed that (resources/volunteers permitting) ICorr CEng Direct would form a key element of ICorr membership growth going forwards, and would give greater prestige to the Institute, and help retain our existing members. It is proposed that a sub-committee of PAC be established under Vice President Yunnan Gao, working alongside David Harvey and Anthony Setiadi. Also aligned to our goals has been the recent work of our ICorr Awards Committee, with preparation of nominations of ICorr members for CSD, EFC and IOM3 awards currently ongoing.
Nick Smart, after several years of service has now stepped down from the committee. The new CED chair, Danny Burkle, has kindly volunteered to take up these duties, and we welcome him on board. We offer our thanks to Nick whose past support is highly appreciated.
A reminder that April 27th will take us to the Annual CED Working Day event at NPL Teddington, entitled ‘Corrosion Prevention in the 21st Century: Learning from the Past to protect the Future’, and June 22nd and 23rd will feature our main 2-day Sustainability and Renewables conference for NE Branch. August 29th will again see Aberdeen host its well-respected annual 1-day Corrosion Awareness event. For all events, please check regularly:
https://www.icorr.org/events/month/2023-04/
Please contact me on any aspect of the Institute’s work at: president@icorr.org
For anyone who has not yet renewed their membership, do please liaise with Institute of Corrosion HQ, at admin@icorr.org, who will be happy to help you, especially if your contact details have recently changed.
With my very best wishes to you all.
Stephen Tate
President: Institute of Corrosion
Institute News, Midlands Branch
The Institute is very pleased to announce the appointment of Bill Whittaker to the Chair of ICorr Midlands Branch.
Bill brings a wealth of experience to the role and will be a great asset to our Organisation.
Presently a Cathodic Protection Engineer with Cathodic Protection Engineering Ltd (CPEL), Bill started in the corrosion industry in 2005 as a technician and over time progressed into engineering.
Following a brief stint offshore, Bill’s expertise is with Cathodic Protection of onshore pipelines and near shore structures. He has an active involvement in ICORR CP training activities being a member of the CP governing board and the training CP scheme manager. Bill holds an MSc in Corrosion Control Engineering awarded by Manchester University, is ICorr Level 4 certified (buried and marine sectors) and is also AMPP (formally NACE) CP4 certified.
We welcome Bill to the role and express our thanks at this time to the Midlands branch committee and recent past chairs Ashley Ingram and Paul Segers, who have all given their time freely to ICorr.
Bill may be contacted at: midlandschair@icorr.org
Institute News
The Institute of Corrosion is very sad to announce the passing of Dr Michael John Graham FICorr, on August 2nd 2022, at the age of 82.
Over Michael’s long research career, he published more than 250 papers on his work in corrosion science and engineering, including thin oxide film formation on metals and semiconductors, surface passivation, high temperature oxidation, and the application of surface analytical techniques to degradation of materials. The outstanding nature of his work was recognised by the Institute through the receipt of both the U. R. Evans Award (1994) and the T. P. Hoar Award (1983). He was made a Fellow of the Institute in 1984.
Michael had a distinguished 36 year career at the National Research Council of Canada, starting as a Post-Doctoral Fellow and retiring in 2005 as a Researcher Emeritus. In addition to his ICorr awards, he received the W. R. Whitney Award (2003) and the H. H. Uhlig Award (1997) from NACE, and was Chair of the International Corrosion Council (1996), Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Corrosion (1985), Co-chair of the 9th International Congress on Metallic Corrosion (1984), and Fellow of NACE (1994).
His leadership responsibilities at the National Research Council of Canada included, Head of Metallic Corrosion and Oxidation, Head of Chemical Characterisation, Head of Surfaces and Interfaces, and Chemistry Division representative to NRC-wide planning and management committees.
He will be particularly remembered for his love of the Gordon Research Conferences on corrosion where he was an active participant in the science and recreational aspects of all but one conference over 47 years. He will be remembered for his sharp mind, determination, fairmindedness, soft-spoken nature, and genuine kindness.
In addition to his love for research in surface science, he was an avid golfer, captained his cricket club in Ottawa,
and played bridge nearly weekly with close friends for over 40 years. Michael was educated at the Creighton School, Carlisle, and the University of Liverpool (B.Sc. with Distinction, 1961; Honours Chemistry, 1962, Ph.D., Surface Chemistry, 1965). In 1998, he was awarded the Honorary Degree of D.Sc. for his contributions to science. He was also a proud recipient of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal (2002).
Michael is survived by his wife and best friend of many years, Lynda Pilkington, his daughter, Karen Lavallee, his sons, John and Andrew, and the mother of his children, Marion Payne.
Adapted from: The Electrochemical Society Interface
31 45 – Winter 2022, www.electrochem.org
Institute News
A joint evening event was held by the branch and the Institute of Mining (NEIMME) in Newcastle on December 18th at the NEIMME, where, Britt Gevaert presented “Humidur Char: Facing Fire in One Coat.”
This was the first event of the reformed Northeast Branch and Lee Wilson’s (previous Chair) contribution to restarting the branch was acknowledged, with his widow also present in the audience. There were nearly 40 attendees in the room and another 30 on-line attendees for the presentation, that had a high level of expectation due to the ground-breaking properties of the product being discussed.
Britt presented Humidur® Char, the one coat Passive Fire Protection (PFP) system. This PFP coating is unique because it has been independently approved and certified for application on minimal prepared steel (St 2), and does not require a primer, nor a reinforcing mesh, even in the most severe fire scenarios. This product has been extensively tested to (High Heat Flux) Jet Fires, Pool Fires and Gas Explosion Resistance, and received Type Approval by the class society DNV. It is currently being utilized by Woodside on both onshore and offshore assets and has been specified for future global projects for various other clients.
At the end of this very informative presentation questions were raised by the audience including local industry experts, and answered by Britt. Following the presentation drinks and snacks were enjoyed by the attendees whilst networking and further discussing the evening’s presentation.
A recording of the presentation can be watched at, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_srzMOfdN0&feature=youtu.be
Future branch events include a presentation and demonstration from PlasmaBlast covering plasma surface cleaning, in March. This will be followed on 22 and 23rd June 2023 by the “Integrity Engineering for a Sustainable Future” conference. This 2-day event will feature a series of technical presentations from leading figures and companies in the renewables sector, followed on the second day by tours of Ore Catapult (offshore renewable energy test and research centre) and Bates Colliery (a Coal Board managed ex-coalmine with 5MW geothermal energy potential). Both events will be held in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Institute News
After the restricted event in 2021, the 33rd annual branch Christmas Lunch was held on 1st December 2022. Numbers were back to a pre-covid level, as 170 guests attended at the Royal Overseas Club in central London. A drinks reception in the Hall of India was followed by a four course meal served in the Princess Alexandra Hall. In a break with tradition, instead of a speaker the entertainment was a corrosion themed quiz, which was won by the table from CTS Europe. As usual the popular raffle was organised by Jimmy Glynn.
As in previous years, most of the guests stayed on for a while to network before many then transferred to a local public house to continue socialising. Thanks must go to the organising committee, plus sponsors Carboline, Corrodere Academy, PPG Protective and Marine Coatings, Protective Polymers Ltd and Winn & Coales (Denso) Ltd.
