Dr. Derek R. Holmes

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21st August 1927

Derek Holmes, a longstanding enthusiastic supporter and officer of the Institute and its predecessors, died recently.  Derek was born in Bedford and went via scholarships and exhibitions to Bedford School (37-45) and Wadham College (45-51), Oxford, where he intended to read chemistry, but because of the exigencies of the war and the requirements of the state bursary, he was awarded he had to read physics at Oxford or metallurgy or glass technology at Sheffield, so he became a physicist. After graduating he researched with H. M. Powell, FRS, on the crystal structure of clathrate compounds, but he showed eventually that the material whose structure he determined was a simple condensation compound, 4-isopropylidene aminophenol, and not a clathrate.

After leaving Oxford in 1951, Derek joined the late C. W. Bunn, FRS, at the ICI Plastics Division, where he completed the structure analysis of Nylon 6, polycaproamide, (German and Russian nylon) and made considerable progress with the structure of polyisobutene, and with several of the exciting new isotactic polymers being developed from the work of Professors Ziegler in Germany and Natta in Italy.  While at Welwyn his interests broadened considerably with his marriage to Cynthia in 1953 and the arrival of his three children, and at work where he became involved in other physical analytical methods such as electron and optical microscopy and non-destructive testing.  In 1960 he was recruited by the late Dr. Forrest, FRS, at Central Electricity Research Laboratories, Leatherhead, to lead a Non-Destructive Testing Section in the Physics Division, but due to a major expansion and reorganisation of CERL before he joined found himself as Head of the Structural Studies Section in the Materials Division.

Soon after joining CERL, Derek was fascinated to hear a paper by Potter and Mann at the 1st International Corrosion Congress on the growth of two-layer magnetite scales on high-pressure steam generating tubes and he spent a significant proportion of the rest of his professional career studying the growth, properties and breakdown of oxide films in a wide range of technological environments.  In the Materials Division, Derek was given the opportunity to surround himself with a group of brilliant young men who rapidly adopted his critical quantitative approach to corrosion and oxidation.  These young colleagues very soon made significant scientific contributions in high temperature oxidation and in the study of oxide properties, and Derek’s large group was renamed the Oxides and Corrosion Section.  Many of them played major roles in the development and work of the Institute and its predecessor societies, and of the European Corrosion Federation, notably both David Mortimer and Mike Manning serving terms as Hon. Secretary of the Institute, and the excellent Dr. Barry Meadowcroft who provided consistent support during his tenure as Group Head.  Other colleagues in Derek’s section went on to become Laboratory Managers of the Marchwood Engineering Laboratories and of CERL, while Derek himself served terms as President of the Corrosion and Protection Association, and Chairman of the National Council of Corrosion Societies. He worked with Henry Cole and Bowler-Reid to form the then Institute of Corrosion Science and Technology from its constituent societies, and later served on the Council of the Institute and as Hon. Secretary, and for many years as Chairman, Secretary and Editor of the Institute’s Publications Committee. His 23 years at CERL were professionally most satisfying, with work in his section on materials for many diverse applications and problems, including MHD electrodes, zinc air battery electrodes, sodium, helium and CO2 cooled reactor materials, and conventional generation materials, which led to a wide range of publications.  Many of these were presented initially at the annual Corrosion Science Symposia, which Derek and his colleagues supported enthusiastically, and others were given at the International Congresses and at the Gordon Research Conferences.   Highlights in his career at CERL included a visit to Russia as an industrial member of a DTI Team of UK Corrosion Specialists lead by Professor Parkins (the only time he ever had diplomatic immunity!), and in 1979/80 a period of secondment to the Electric Power Research Institute in California working with John Stringer and Bob Jaffe.  His time there and various other journeys in the USA and elsewhere gave him a taste for foreign travel, and this, together with the projected privatisation of the CEGB and the associated inevitable reduction in research, led him to seek early retirement in 1983.  He intended to spend his additional spare time on his much-loved pursuits of gardening, windsurfing, travel and supporting his family.  But such was not to be!

As soon as Derek and his wife returned from their retirement holiday, he was asked by John Bernie at the National Corrosion Service at NPL, to spend three years on a part-time basis setting up and managing co-operative research projects to minimise the cost of corrosion to UK industry.  Nine years and four major projects later (totalling £2M in all) he retired from his active work at NCS.  Simultaneously with his work at NPL the Institute asked Derek to set up and lead a Publications Committee to increase the Institute’s output, reputation and profit from their high quality technical and scientific publications.  He finally retired as Secretary and Books Editor from this committee in 2000, having edited and nurtured the publication of a number of valuable books including, in particular, ‘Dewpoint Corrosion’ in 1985, and the ‘Corrosion Handbook’ in 1999.  In the 80s, Derek and his wife, Cynthia, were often to be seen on the Institute’s stand at the UK Corrosion Conferences selling both the Institute’s publications and the benefits of Institute Membership.

Derek always felt himself to be wonderfully fortunate in his research career, both in the exciting discoveries being made in so many of his different areas and, especially, in the many brilliant colleagues and friends he had in the Institute and in the wider corrosion field.  He was a man of many parts and although always dedicated to his work in science and technology he loved his rugby, windsurfing and swimming.  At CERL he was sprint champion and record holder at his age group for a number of years and was the shove-ha’penny champion as well as swimming competitively.  He always maintained a strong interest in education, particularly for those who were less fortunate than himself, and served as a governor of local primary and secondary schools for 23 years.  He also served as an occasional PhD Examiner for Newcastle University and Imperial College, as a first degree Examiner at Sunderland Polytechnic (now University) for 4 years, and on the Standards Inspection Group for the Council of National Academic Awards.

Derek is survived by Cynthia, who kindly assisted in the preparation of this summary of Derek’s life and achievements, and who notified the Institute of a generous bequest that he was keen should be made to the Institute on his behalf.

William Cox

10th July 2019

The President Writes

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t has been a busy summer for the Institute and I hope this issue of Corrosion Management gives you an idea of the number and variety of interesting activities that are bubbling away at the moment. It’s an exciting time to be involved! I have to say that I am thoroughly enjoying my time as President, which is made so much easier by the number of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers who run the Institute activities, as well as our excellent and highly professional office staff.

I recently attended the EuroCorr conference in Sevilla and was delighted to be present at the awards ceremony to see Liane Smith receiving her EFC Honorary Fellowship. Liane gave an inspirational acceptance speech in which she emphasised to younger people in the audience the benefits of getting involved in both technical and professional committee activities. This is a top priority, not only for the Institute but for the corrosion profession in general, and I would strongly encourage our younger members to put themselves forward for these roles.
I would like to thank those of you who took the time to give us your views on the proposed refresh of the Institute brand. There were over 300 responses to the online survey, and of the three candidate brandmark/logo combinations, a clear preference has emerged amongst the membership. This has now been taken forward to the detail stage and the final brand assets will be rolled out to the website, stationery and marketing material during the autumn. While it is never possible to please everyone, we have been very much encouraged by the level of approval from our members.

One of the most rewarding aspects of being President is recognising the achievements of our members and others in the wider corrosion community. It was a privilege to present our two premier awards during the Electrochem 2019 conference in Glasgow, with Prof. Tetsuo Shoji receiving the 2019 U.R. Evans Award and Dr Steve Paterson accepting the 2019 Paul McIntyre Award. It was a particular pleasure to present the Paul McIntyre Award, having worked with Paul at NPL for many years. He was a true gentleman and the embodiment of dedicated and loyal service for the public benefit.

The Electrochem conference itself was a huge success and included for the first time a joint meeting between the Corrosion Science Symposium and the Corrosion Engineering Division Annual Working Day. It was great to see the students mixing with experienced corrosion engineers to exchange knowledge and make connections – this is certainly something that we would like to see more of in the future.

I’m pleased to say that we have recently simplified the ICorr membership application process. It is now possible for non-members to apply directly for Technician, Professional or Fellow membership, without the need to join as an Individual member first. Updated application forms and guidance notes are now available on the ICorr website. Please have a think about who you might prod – new members are always very welcome!
Finally, the date and venue for this year’s AGM have been confirmed. The meeting will take place in the Council Chamber at Birmingham Council House in conjunction with the Midland Branch meeting on the afternoon of Thursday 31st October. Several interesting and entertaining technical talks have been arranged and I would encourage you all to mark the event in your diaries.

Icorr President, Gareth Hinds

New Vice President Bill Hedges receives his Regalia from President Gareth Hinds at the recent Council meeting.

60th Corrosion Science Symposium (CSS)

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As previously announced, this will be held on 26th-28th August 2019, as part of Electrochem 2019 at the University of Strathclyde, organised jointly with the Universities of Strathclyde (Prof. Sudipta Roy) and Glasgow (Dr Mark Symes).
Professor Tetsuo Shoji will receive the UR Evans award 2019 at this Symposium for his outstanding contributions in the broad aspects of corrosion science and engineering. His research field covers the Physics and Chemistry of Fracture, combining mechanics and chemistry that is necessary for the analysis of materials degradation and fracture mechanisms, as an extension of material strength and fracture mechanics. For example, one of the factors degrading the safety and reliability in structures and components is crack initiation and propagation under the influence of chemical environments, and its mechanistic understanding is of extreme importance. His work has been key in the development of better instrumentation and analysis, particularly in the :
n Development of a recrystallization-etch technique and a unique evaluation procedure for crack tip intense strain region, by which ductile fracture could be quantitatively analysed.
n The unique formulation of stress corrosion crack growth rate, based on a mechanistic understanding of crack growth under a mechano-chemical reaction at a crack tip. Thereby the first to establish a predictive capability of growth rate of stress corrosion cracking, taking into account both crack tip mechanics and chemistry, and;
n Establishment of a predictive model and a capable procedure for aging degradation evaluation of plant components in energy conversion systems such as fossil and nuclear power plants and plant life time prediction and management.
Also from his varied original work, he contributed to the setting up the Centre of Excellence for Physics and Chemistry of Fracture, focusing on mechano-chemical phenomena and its relevance to failure in the field of operating plants. He is one of the pioneering leaders in this research field and has published more than 500 journal papers covering atomic scale simulation of oxidation, hydrogen accelerated oxidation, mechanism-based alloy design, electrochemical materials characterization, mechanistic study of oxidation, non-destructive testing and evaluation and fracture mechanics and failure analysis.
Tetsuo Shoji served as a Professor of Tohoku University from 1986 until March 2018. He was honoured as a Professor Emeritus of Tohoku University in 2015. Currently, he is continuing his research work as a Senior Research Fellow of New Industry Creation Hatchery Center (NICHe) of Tohoku University. He is also a Distinguished Professor of the National Centre for Materials Service Safety, University of Science and Technology Beijing, USTB in China since 2013, and High -level Foreign Professor of Institute of Disaster Management and Reconstruction of Sichuan University since 2018.
Prof Shoji was a postdoctoral fellow working for Professor R.N. Parkins at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and a Visiting Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was the principal investigator of various national and international programmes, such as the Centre of Excellence Programme on Physics and Chemistry of Fracture and Failure Prevention, the Co-Director both of CNRS LIA ELyT laboratory and the international Joint Laboratory of Tohoku University and USTB, and international cooperative research programme of PEACE and POLIM, working on mechanics and mechanisms of Environmentally Assisted Degradation such as SCC and Environmental Fatigue. He has received 20 national and nine international awards, including the NACE W.R. Whitney Award in 1998, the Lee Hsun Award in 2006, Chinese Academy of Science and the Great Medal from CEFRACOR, France in 2016. He was appointed by the Prime Minister as a Council Member of Science Council of Japan in 2011 for seven years and was elected as a Member of Science Council of Japan in 2018 for six years and also elected as a member of the Japan Engineering Academy.