62nd Corrosion Science Symposium report
The 62nd Corrosion Science Symposium (CSS) hosted by the University of Manchester between 6th and 9th September and held jointly with the “Advances in Corrosion Protection by Organic Coatings” meeting, was a hybrid meeting with delegates attending in person and online. The CSS has been held annually since its launch in 1960 by Prof. L.L. Shreir. The symposium is an ideal opportunity for students and junior researchers in corrosion science from across Europe to congregate, discuss their work, and share ideas in a stimulating/friendly environment. This year there were 15 talks and the UR Evans award plenary talk given by Prof Mary Ryan (Imperial College London). Prof Ryan eloquently discussed why fundamentally it is vital to understand materials at the nanoscale, and specifically the nanoscale interfaces in, and between, materials and their environments, in her talk entitled, ‘Corrosion at the nanoscale’.
She reviewed her interest in the development of operando approaches, as well as her pioneering nanoscale corrosion studies using synchrotron methods.
Symposium highlights included presentation by, Yashwantraj Seechurn (University of Mauritius) who gave an interesting overview
of his work studying the atmospheric corrosion of S235 carbon
steel when exposed to the tropical/marine aerosol pollutants of
Port-Louis, Mauritius. Port-louis is situated on the northwest coast
and has a distinct microclimate which leads to major atmospheric corrosion concerns. Yashwantraj presented key insights into the
S235 atmospheric corrosion, revealing an early rapid corrosion initiation, followed by slower corrosion kinetics due to the formation of stable rust phases that were linked to environmental and geographical variables around Mauritius.
Corentin Penot (University of Southampton) reported his studies into the corrosion performance of a wire arc additive manufacture (WAAM) deposited 316L alloy. Specifically, the influence of the WAAM microstructures related to the austenite matrix and an inter-dendritic ferrite and sigma phases. Corentin reported Cr and Mo variations where the austenite matrix was depleted at interphase regions (at the austenite/ferrite boundaries).
Katarzyna Rzeszutek (University of Manchester) gave a good overview of her studies into the influence of zinc loading during cathodic protection of epoxy zinc primers on steel. Katarzyna analysed the dissolved zinc content from such coatings which indicated the anode/cathode surface area ratios exposed to a corrosive medium affect the utilisation of the zinc for the galvanic protection.
For the first time, the 2021 Shreir award (for the best student presenter) was presented to two worthy recipients, Lawrence Coghlan (University of Loughborough) and Charlie Wand (University of Manchester). Lawrence gave an insightful talk entitled ‘carburisation and oxidation of 9Cr-1Mo steel exposed to CO2’ linked to breakaway oxidation associated with the degradation of protective scales within Advance Gas Cooled Reactors. Characterisation of the oxide/substrate interface identified an oxide growth mechanism through preferential oxidation of carbides within the substrate. In pre-breakaway samples an internal oxidation zone develops at this interface due to this preferential oxidation ahead of the oxidation front. Charlie presented a fascinating atomistic molecular dynamics investigation exploring water diffusion through protective epoxy-amine coatings. Simulations found water diffusion to be via a polymer-assisted hopping mechanism between isolated free volume nanoscale pores and that the polymer mobility is the determining factor for the speed of water diffusion. Congratulations to both Lawrence and Charlie for their excellent symposium talks.
The 63rd CSS will be a joint meeting with Electrochem2022 taking place at the John McIntyre Conference Centre near Holyrood Park in Edinburgh, between the 5th and 6th September 2022. Further details on registration and abstract submission will follow shortly.
