After careful deliberation the CSD committee nominated Prof R.A. (Bob) Cottis (University of Manchester) as the recipient of the 2020 U.R. Evans Award. This decision has been ratified by the ICorr Council and it is planned that this will be awarded at the 61st Corrosion Science Symposium being held as a standalone meeting at the University of Southampton in September 2020.
Prof Cottis has been a champion of corrosion education throughout his entire career with seminal contributions within UMIST/Manchester, and activities linked to EFC WP7 Corrosion Education and NACE International. He joined the Corrosion and Protection Centre, UMIST in 1979, initially as a lecturer, then senior lecturer, reader and professor. He was appointed Professor Emeritus in Corrosion Science and Engineering on his retirement in 2011. Nonetheless, he has continued his research into hydrogen embrittlement and electrochemical noise measurements.
He has been active in the development of teaching in the field of corrosion, being responsible for the development of a distance learning approach to the MSc in Corrosion Control Engineering, and Director of the Teaching and Learning Technology Programme (TLTP, funded by the UK higher education funding bodies HEFCE, IIEFCW, SHEFC and DENI) Consortium that developed the Engineering Corrosion (Ecorr) courseware to support corrosion teaching. In 2005 he was awarded the T.J. Hull Award of NACE International, given in recognition of outstanding contribution to NACE in the field of publications.
Prof Cottis has also contributed to the international development of the subject in several areas. The main focus of his early research was the mechanistic aspects of corrosion fatigue. Both in respect of crack initiation, which is significant primarily for smaller components and where he demonstrated the role of corrosion in assisting the initiation process, and crack growth, where his work showed that larger cracks, such as those found in offshore structures, are relatively unaffected by corrosion and hydrogen entering the steel is a more important factor. In collaborative work he was responsible for the clarification of the interpretation of the results of existing electrochemical techniques and contributed to improvements in the statistical interpretation of pitting corrosion, both of which are of considerable industrial significance. On a more fundamental note, he also developed very efficient algorithms for the modelling of alloy corrosion. Most recently, he has been one of the leaders in the development of a fundamental understanding of the theoretical basis of electrochemical noise measurements, and in the better understanding of the capabilities and limitations of the use of artificial neural network methods for modelling corrosion processes.
As a reminder, the award criteria are; an international reputation and service to the corrosion science community, a contribution to dissemination – publications, professional bodies, patents and IPR, conferences and events. Plus a contribution to industry – especially of an inter-disciplinary nature, corrosion science and technology training, distinctiveness, originality and creativity of research – impact on corrosion discipline, seminal contribution to corrosion science and practice, and a continuing potential contribution to corrosion research. Nominations can be submitted at any time to the CSD chair.
Galloway Award
The Galloway Award is presented annually to a student author of a published paper on a corrosion-related topic. It is named in honour of Jack Galloway, a founder member of the British Association of Corrosion Engineers, a forerunner of the Institute of Corrosion.
The 2019 recipient is Liberato Volpe (University of Manchester) for his paper ‘Replicating PWR Primary Water Conditions in Low Pressure H2-Steam Environment to Study Alloy 600 Oxidation Processes’, which was published in the Journal of the Electrochemical Society (Volume 166, C1-C8, 2019).
The award consists of a certificate and a cheque for £300. Nominations for the 2020 award are now open; candidates should email a pdf copy of a paper published in the last 12 months to the CSD Chair by 4 Sept 2020.
The Real Cost of Poor Corrosion Prevention Practices Is Human
The financial cost of corrosion to the global economy is enormous, and estimated to be more than 3% of global GDP. Corrosion control is essential to reducing this cost, and is critical within infrastructure and transport. The economic benefits of longer life of transport and infrastructure assets are clear. Therefore, it is crucial that governments and businesses invest in corrosion control.
However, there is a far bigger reason why the Institute of Corrosion is leading the global corrosion conversation. People’s lives depend upon it.
Catastrophe is the real cost of infrastructure corrosion
In August 2015, the catastrophic effects of a lack of corrosion management was made abundantly clear in Italy. During a violent storm in Genoa, the Morandi Bridge collapsed. 43 people lost their lives. It is not as if the disaster could not have been foreseen. Its designer Riccardo Morandi warned of the risk of corrosion to the bridge all the way back in 1979. He said:
“Sooner or later, maybe in a few years, it will be necessary to resort to a treatment consisting of the removal of all traces of rust on the exposure of the reinforcements, to fill in the patches.”
Indeed, of all infrastructure, bridge collapses have been one of the most common examples of the cost of lack of corrosion control. Other notable bridge collapses include the following tragedies:
Silver Bridge, on a major highway in the United States, collapsed under the weight of rush hour traffic one afternoon in December 1967. A total of 75 vehicles crashed into the Ohio River. Nine people were seriously injured. 46 people were killed. The cause? Corrosion fatigue of the bridge’s suspension chain.
The pedestrian section of the Gokhale Bridge in Mumbai collapsed in July 2019 due to corrosion, killing one person and injuring four others.
Preliminary evidence points to corrosion as the cause for the sudden collapse of the Nanfang’ao Bridge in Taiwan. One of only two bifurcated single-arch bridges in the world – and only 20 years old – the 320-ton bridge killed six people when it fell in October 2019.
Inevitably, when corrosion control is ignored or mismanaged on highway bridges, buildings and other infrastructure, that infrastructure is weakened and lives are put at risk.
Corrosion causes tragedy in transport disasters
Corrosion is also a huge financial cost to the transport economy. Components that corrode must be repaired or replaced, and can cause breakdown and costly delays. Massive ships have enabled vast amounts of goods to be transported around the world, but they only last around 30 years before they must be scrapped due to the effects of corrosion.
Once more, though, the financial cost pales into insignificance when compared to the human cost of poor corrosion management. Examples include:
In October 1992, an El Al Boeing 747 crashed into an apartment block in Amsterdam killing more than 100 people. It had taken off only five minutes earlier. Corroded components were found to be the culprit, causing an engine and its pylon to separate from the wing. This engine hit a second engine, causing it to separate, too.
Join the corrosion control conversation
The first of our core values is Trust and Respect. The Institute of Corrosion is an independent professional body, trusted and respected by the public with the goal of reducing the environmental impact of corrosion on our infrastructure.
It is crucial that we encourage the innovation that enables greater sustainability of our infrastructure and transport. Developments in corrosion science, prevention and management should reduce (and, eventually, eliminate) the cost of corrosion to society.
To this end, we have designed this year’s Corrosion Engineering Division (CED) Working Day around corrosion control in transport and infrastructure. Held on 29th April 2020, only five days after Worldwide Corrosion Awareness Day, the original venue could not have been more appropriate – the meeting was to be held at the National Railway Museum, York. However, as you know, world events have overtaken us this year. Consequently, we are now holding the Working Day online.
It remains a fantastic opportunity to network with other professionals from different industry sectors (albeit through cyberspace and not face-to-face) and to learn about some of the latest developments in the field of corrosion control in a variety of transport and infrastructure applications across diverse industries.
This full day event will now be free. We have an excellent group of speakers lined up, including Phillip Watkinson (Corrocoat), Chris Atkins (Mott MacDonald), Steve Paterson (Arbeadie Consultants), Cliff Harris and Clive Harrison (Jacobs), and Pablo Merino (CLH Pipeline Systems). The series of lectures will cover:
Fascinating Uses of Heavy Duty Glassflake Coatings in Transport Applications
Innovations in Preserving Transport Infrastructure
Managing Corrosion in Ageing Offshore Infrastructures
Corrosion Monitoring of Dry Fuel Storage Containers in Nuclear Facilities
A New CP Approach on Non-Isolated and Aged Pipelines: A Case Study
If you are interested in taking part, please send an email to admin@icorr.org by 24th April. In return we will send you a link to be able to join the meeting. Please also indicate which working group discussion you would like to join in the afternoon.
60th Corrosion Science Symposium
The 60th Corrosion Science Symposium (CSS) this year was part of Electrochem2019 hosted by the University of Strathclyde’s Technology Innovation Centre, Glasgow. Electrochem is an annual meeting organised jointly by the RSC Electrochemistry Group and the SCI Electrochemical Technology Group, and over the past 15 years the CSS has joined the meeting as a parallel session. This joint Electrochem/CSS meeting gives a much broader platform for the U.R. Evans award and the Shreir Prize, and enhanced recognition for ICorr. The symposium is an ideal opportunity for students and younger researchers in corrosion science from across Europe to congregate, discuss their work, share ideas and, above all enjoy themselves in a stimulating/friendly environment. This year there were 15 presentations and the UR Evans award plenary talk, plus four posters over the two days. The symposium had a couple of key underlying themes: (i) electrochemical monitoring/sensing strategies; and (ii) polymeric coatings and surface modification.
Symposium talk highlights included, David Kumar (University of Bristol) who gave an interesting overview of his work on hot water corrosion issues related to fusion reactor cooling circuits. David explored the effect of simulated fusion reactor conditions on the reduced-activation ferritic-martensitic steel, Eurofer-97, which is Europe’s candidate for structural material in the water-cooled lithium-lead blankets. As well as aqueous corrosion, Eurofer-97 in a coolant loop will be subjected to high neutron flux, temperatures, pressures, and magnetic fields. Mariana Folena (University of Leeds) reported on her studies into the role of acetic acid in CO2 top of line corrosion using real-time corrosion measurements, where the corrosion response was characterised through the implementation of a miniature three-electrode setup developed for extracting real-time electrochemical measurement. Jessica Moulton (University of Manchester) gave a good overview into her recent studies modelling the behaviour of aluminium flakes in marine coatings using agar gels. Aluminium flakes can be formulated into marine coatings to delay the onset of cathodic disbanding, however the mechanism behind this affect is at present not fully understood.
The UR Evans award plenary talk was given by Prof Tetsuo Shoji from Tohoku University, Japan. The UR Evans Award is the Institute’s premier scientific award and is awarded annually in recognition of outstanding contributions to corrosion science and engineering. The award is in the form of an engraved sword and symbolises the fight in which we we are engaged. Prof Shoji’s talk was on the mechanics and mechanisms of stress corrosion cracking – the role of hydrogen as an all-round player. He reviewed the phenomenological understanding of cracking mechanisms along with the fundamental mechanistic understanding. Prof Shoji outlined recent atomistic modelling studies of metallic oxidation by water and suggested a role for hydrogen in the oxidation process linked with experimental observations, reporting hydrogen-vacancy cluster and diffusivity effects. For transition metals and their alloys, hydrogen is thought to play an important mechanistic role, such as in the interaction with surrounding atoms through electron transfer from the metal to hydrogen to form negatively charged/positively charged hydrogen, where atomic defects produce hydrogen-vacancy clusters and existing surface oxides form degraded(non-protective) oxides, with either grain boundaries or interfaces promoting diffusivity. Throughout his talk Prof Shoji often challenged the perceived wisdom and provided exciting insights into recent scientific achievements linked to the degradation and cracking issues associated with nuclear power generation.
The Shreir Prize which is awarded to the best oral presentation by a registered student at the CSS was won this year by Amelia Langley (University of Bath) for her talk entitled ‘Chaotic copper corrosion: the influence of dissolved gas on the anodic passivation of copper in model seawater’. Amelia discussed with great clarity and enthusiasm a proposed colloidal dissolution mechanism, linked to characteristic noise in voltammetry data. In addition, the influence of dissolved gas was explored where, more specifically, the effects of industrially relevant O2, CO2 and H2 were studied. Inert gas (He and Ar) and degassing (removal of gas) effects were also explored. The colloidal mechanism was demonstrated to be dependent on both the presence and type of gas, subsequently affecting anodic passivation to a lesser or greater extent, linked to the role of gases as surfactants.
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Corrosion Science Division Corrosion Science Division The Corrosion Science Division (CSD) is tasked with coordinating the annual Corrosion Science Symposium and acts as the selection panel for four ICorr awards. The Corrosion Science Symposium predates both the...
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