Institute News
Welcome to the final edition of our magazine for 2021 which also marks the midway point of my Presidency and so this is a great time to reflect
on the past year.
As we came into 2021 we were all hopeful that Covid would be behind us and we could start getting back to our regular way of operating. This wasn’t the case, but that didn’t hold us back and the past year has been full
of activity and progress.
Our branch meetings continued to be held virtually and were well attended. In April the annual Corrosion Engineering Division (CED) working day was held virtually with over 60 participants for the full day. These events provided an opportunity to improve how we host virtual meetings and we will continue this going forward. In fact, by the time you read this we will have held our Annual General Meeting (AGM) in November which was both in-person and virtual. The virtual option provides a way for members who are not able to attend in person to connect with us – which is what we are about. A bonus is that as we are all thinking about the environment and the recent COP
26 conference, it reduces our carbon footprint as we travel less.
By mid-year we were planning the resumption of in-person meetings and this was led by our Aberdeen and London branches. In September we held the Corrosion Science Symposium at the University of Manchester. These events have been very successful and were all in person and virtual.
For our 2021 awards we had many deserving candidates for the awards committee to choose from – they had a tough time. Many congratulations to the winners who were:
UR Evans award: Professor Mary Ryan.
Paul McIntyre award: Dr. Bijan Kermani.
Henry G Cole award: Dr. Bill Cox (awarded posthumously and received by his wife and daughter at the AGM).
Lionel Shrier award: Lawrence Coghlan and Charlie Wand.
Our social media presence continues to grow and we now have over 10,000 followers on our two LinkedIn sites – as a reminder we had zero in February 2020! We took a pause over the summer with our blogging but will be restarting soon. If you have any suggestions for blogs, please let
me know.
Our training courses have been a real highlight of the year. You may recall all of our CP courses have been updated and are compliant with ISO 15257. We also opened a new, state of the art CP training center at the offices of Corrosion Control Services Limited (CCSL) in Telford. Since releasing the new courses we have delivered over 140 separate training classes.
In the world of surface treatment we have released completely updated Passive Fire Protection (PFP – epoxy Levels 2 & 3) courses. New PFP cementitious courses are being written, as is a new Insulation inspector level 2 course. We have commissioned a Microbially Influenced Corrosion (MIC) course and have several other new programmes in the pipeline.
Our Industrial Coatings Applicator Training Scheme (ICATS) which is provided by Correx (an independent company that is owned 100% by ICorr) remains in high demand.
Our training courses are also in demand from outside the UK. We have
seen growth in China and have just agreed terms with ABRACO in Brazil to deliver a conversion course to our Coating Inspector level 2 certificate. Encouraging talks are also occurring in Egypt, Greece, India, Libya
and Malaysia.
As a result of feedback from many of our members we are developing a proposal to update our website and members database.
During the year we had two audits: one for our ISO 9001 accreditation and one for our license to issue the Chartered Scientist (CSci) credentials. We passed both audits with no significant findings.
Our Young ICorr group continues to be very active and one highlight was the “Thesis in 3 minutes” on-line event, where several young engineers gave enthusiastic talks based on their current work.
I hope this has given you a flavour of what’s been going on and I know many of you have either led or been involved in this. I cannot thank you enough for all the time, energy and enthusiasm you give to our Institute.
I hope you all find time to have a break over the festive season and I’d like to take this early opportunity to wish you a Happy New Year.
Until next time,
Bill Hedges, Institute of Corrosion President
Email: president@icorr.org
Institute News
Dear Member,
The Trustees and Council of the Institute would like to invite you all to the 2021 Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be held on Thursday 22nd of November 2021 at the National Conference Centre & The National Motorcycle Museum in conjunction with the Midlands Branch meeting, including technical presentations by corrosion experts from across UK.
National Conference Centre & The National Motorcycle Museum, Coventry Road, Bickenhill, Solihull, West Midlands B92 0EJ
http://www.nationalmotorcyclemuseum.co.uk/ http://www.nationalconferencecentre.co.uk/
Please confirm attendance (for lunch numbers and remote access to the AGM) or apology for absence by email to admin@icorr.org.
09h00-10h00
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Arrive and registration
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09h00-10h00
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Midland Branch Meeting
Institute of Corrosion presentations of current ICorr training courses
Chris Spence – CP
Richard Edwards – CP certification
Kevin Harold – ICATS and certification
John Fletcher – ICorr Surface Treatment Courses
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10h45-11h00
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Comfort break
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11h00 – 12h00
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Communication and Digitisation in the Corrosion Industry
Speakers
Ian Sotherton – Omniflex
Dr Prafull Sharma – CorrosionRADAR
Jack Cornes – HausBots
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12h00-13h30
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Lunch and access to the museum
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13h30-14h45
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AGM Agenda
Apologies for absence
Minutes of the previous AGM November 2020
President’s report
Treasurer’s report
Elections
Any other business
The Trustees and members of Council will be available before the meeting to answer any questions you may have regarding the Institute and its future.
Again, as in the case of 2020, the Institute’s accounts, and the minutes for the previous AGM, will be available via the ICorr website (www.icorr.org). Please examine them, and the website in general, as we would appreciate your feedback.
This year the AGM will also be live streamed via Zoom or Teams meeting, please confirm your attendance as detailed below to receive further instruct ions for remote access on the day.
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14h45-15h00
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Comfort break tea coffee
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15h00-16h00
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ICorr Awards and presentations
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16h00-17h30
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Access to the museum – site closes at 17h30
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Industry News
Novosound, a leading ultrasonic company based in Scotland, has announced it has won its first international honour at the 2021 Materials Performance Corrosion Innovation of the
Year awards.
Organised by the Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP), Novosound received the award in the Testing category for its revolutionary Belenus ultrasound sensor, which provides corrosion monitoring across a variety of structures and environments in a range of industries. Manufactured using its patented, thin-film technology, the Belenus is the world’s first corrosion monitoring sensor that can operate completely soaked in high-temperature atmospheres
up to 400°C for extended periods of time.
By providing highly accurate and real-time corrosion data from remote and inaccessible locations, the Belenus enables power plant, refining, processing, and manufacturing facility owners and operators to detect corrosion in metal pipework and structures early and reliably. This facilitates improved maintenance planning and increases operational efficiency, as corrosion issues can be actioned and mitigated before unexpected failures occur.
Dr Claire Thring, Application Specialist for the sensor, said: “The current limitations of ultrasound probes can be traced back to the core rigid, ceramic, sensor materials used in manufacturing, but by using the patented, flexible, core thin-film material, the Belenus can conform to any surface curvature, and coupled with its compact size – roughly the size of a car key fob – allows it to be fitted to a range of structures including pipes, storage tanks and pressure vessels, enabling 24/7 asset monitoring.
Blogs, Coating and Inspection Training
Working Day and Symposium: Managing Corrosion in Low-Carbon Energy Technologies On April 28th, 2021, you’re invited to the latest in a series of working days hosted by the Institute of Corrosion’s Corrosion Engineering Division. Because of coronavirus restrictions,...
Latest News
The Annual General Meeting of the Institute of Corrosion, was held virtually on 19th November 2020. This was preceded by presentations from the 2020 recipients of the Institute’s premier awards, Prof. Carmen Andrade (Paul McIntyre Award) and Prof. Robert Cottis (U.R. Evans Award).
Bob Cottis gave a talk about hydrogen induced cracking in high strength steels, which was recorded and will be available in the Members area of the website. Due to a technical glitch Carmen Andrade’s talk was not recorded, but a version was previously published in the July/August 2020 issue of Corrosion Management.
In his last speech as President, Gareth Hinds reported on the many events that had happened during his 2 years as ICorr President, including the opening of the Institute’s new home in St Peter’s Gardens, the new branding of the Institute’s logo, and the development of new courses to expand the knowledge of corrosion. The challenges of COVID-19 have resulted in many events being held on line and this has allowed people to attend workshops, seminars and the AGM from all around the world. Gareth thanked all the people who had helped him to make his Presidency run smoothly, especially the Trustees, Office staff and Council members.
The Honorary Treasurer, Tony Collins reported that the Institute was in good financial shape, despite the difficulties of running courses in the current climate. Gareth thanked Tony for his ongoing excellent management of the Institute’s finances.
A list of proposed Trustees and Council members was presented to the AGM attendees. The majority of people had agreed to continue in their current (voluntary) posts, with the President Gareth Hinds becoming the new Immediate Past President; the Vice President Bill Hedges becoming President and Stephen Tate becoming the new Vice President.
![Bill Hedges](https://www.icorr.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AGM1_240pixels.jpg)
Bill Hedges
![Stephen Tate](https://www.icorr.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AGM2_240pixels.jpg)
Stephen Tate
Sarah Vasey, who was the previous Immediate Past President has been co-opted onto Council and it was proposed to include the Chair of Correx, which is occupied by an ICorr member in an unpaid capacity. The nominees were unanimously accepted by the ICorr members present. A full list of the Trustees and Council members can be found at, https://www.icorr.org/icorr-structure/
The Articles and Memorandum of Association of the Institute had been thoroughly reviewed, modernised and brought into line with current ICorr practice. These had been available for viewing on the ICorr website prior to the AGM. The revised versions were unanimously accepted by the AGM attendees.
The final item of business was the awarding of an Honorary Life Fellowship of the Institute to Trevor Osborne for his outstanding contribution to ICorr. In addition to his other work for ICorr, Trevor had personally organised and supervised the refurbishment of Corrosion House, without any remuneration and the Trustees and Council wanted to acknowledge his altruistic work.