This article was originally published by the University Network of Excellence in Nuclear Engineering
Professor Roger Newman (ChemE) Jared Smith (Canadian Nuclear Laboratories), and Suraj Persaud (Queen’s University), have won the 2021 Best Corrosion Paper Award given by the editorial board by CORROSION: The Journal of Science and Engineering. This award is given to the most outstanding manuscript published in the journal in the calendar year preceding the award nomination. The journal is published by National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) International.
The three researchers lead the UNENE-Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Corrosion Joint Chair Alliance Program. Newman and Persaud co-run the program while Smith serves as the program’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) Chair. The program’s research focuses on examining the corrosion of materials in Canadian nuclear power plants with particular emphasis on nanoscale mechanisms and the combined effect of stress and corrosion.
The article, “Nanoscale Precursor Sites and their Importance in the Prediction of Stress Corrosion Cracking Failure,” reviews recent studies that have applied state-of-the-art microscopy techniques to characterize stress corrosion cracking (SCC). The ability to identify such sites would be instrumental in predicting SCC failure and developing proactive mitigation strategies.
The paper builds on research of modern capabilities in microscopy and computational science for modeling and performing physical characterization of atomic and nanoscale processes related to SCC, specifically, the quantitative micro-nano (QMN) approach.
As well, Newman recently co-authored “A percolation theory for designing corrosion-resistant alloys,” published in the February issue of Nature. This research was done, in part, through the UNENE-NSERC chair program, funded by Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and other industry partners. It provides insights into the role of de-alloying in the degradation of alloys such as those used in nuclear steam generators.
The UNENE-NSERC chair program TAC held a virtual meeting, April 13, featuring presentations from individual researchers including students and chairs from U of T and Queen’s.
Click here to read more about NACE International’s Best Paper Award including previous winners.
Click here to read Newman, Persaud and Smith’s paper (subscription required) in CORROSION.