December 5, 1995
Fontana Corrosion Center Newsletter
To: Friends and Alumni of the Fontana Corrosion Center
From: Gerald S. Frankel, Director, Fontana Corrosion Center
You are probably all aware that a lot of changes have occurred during the past year at the Fontana Corrosion Center. Three professors retired, and I joined the faculty of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering as Associate Professor and Director of the FCC. I would like to take this opportunity in the first of what will hopefully become annual newsletters to inform you about this transition, to introduce myself, and to describe the plans for what will be happening in the near future in the Fontana Corrosion Center.
Emeriti
To begin with, I would like to honor the transition into the rank of emeritus professor of three individuals who have each in their own way made remarkable contributions to the field of corrosion. Prof. Susan Smialowska, the immediate past director of the FCC, retired at the end of spring quarter. She has produced major achievements in several areas, most notably in pitting, high temperature aqueous corrosion, and stress corrosion cracking. Her book on pitting of metals is the definitive reference book in the field. She has worked extensively on corrosion and cracking in high temperature aqueous environments. Susan seems to be enjoying this phase of her career so far, as she has already taken two long trips abroad; to Europe and Taiwan. She plans on continuing her research at OSU, and remain an invaluable resource for the FCC.
Prof. Robert Rapp took the field by surprise by deciding to retire after last winter quarter. Despite the many years that he has been a leader in the area of oxidation, his youthful energy and enthusiasm seemed to indicate that he was far from retirement eligibility. Dr. Rapp has also been traveling a lot lately, most recently to France where he received an honorary doctorate degree from the Institute Polytechnique de Toulouse, where he had previously taken a sabbatical and has had collaborations over the years. Bob also plans on remaining at OSU, and staying very active in research with a team of post-docs.
Prof. Bryan Wilde, for the second time in his career, has opted for early retirement. I am continually amazed by the numerous references I still encounter in the literature to Dr. Wilde's early work. Bryan hopes to be moving soon to Oregon, where he will ride his horses and continue his consulting activities.
I have also been in close touch with the other past FCC directors. Both Roger Staehle and Digby Macdonald have been extremely giving of their time, and have provided invaluable advice. Finally, Chuck Morin, an FCC alumnus who currently heads the departmental External Advisory Committee, has been extremely supportive of me and my efforts to upgrade the Fontana Corrosion Center facilities.
The Next Generation
If you are interested in finding out about me and my past activities, please see my home page. Because my Ph.D. advisor at M.I.T. was Prof. Ron Latanision, it could be considered that I was part of the FCC extended family even before joining OSU. Having been at the IBM Watson Research Center for the past 9 years, my interests have developed in directions slightly different from the traditional areas of research in the FCC. I have spent a lot of time studying the corrosion behavior of thin metallic films, and using thin films to study fundamental corrosion phenomena, such as pitting and passivation. My doctoral thesis, however, was in the area of hydrogen embrittlement, and I am a metallurgist by training. I have enjoyed working on a mixture of fundamental and practical problems in the past, and hope to maintain a similar balance in the activities of the Fontana Corrosion Center.
I am terrifically excited by the opportunity that lies ahead. Between trying to figure out how to use a Macintosh computer and remembering exactly what goes on in a college classroom, the autumn quarter flew by. Teaching MSE 681 (the undergraduate corrosion course) was a real thrill, and I was pleasantly surprised by the departmental seniors who took the class. They were, for the most part, motivated, interested, and skilled in laboratory practices. Through the lab reports and oral presentations, they displayed communication skills far beyond what I had expected. I would encourage you to consider any of them should you be looking for new employees.
My family, which includes my wife June and daughters Dana, 9, and Sasha, 8, has adjusted quite well to the Midwest. We are enjoying our new community of Bexley, although our house is in need of some serious renovations!
I also want to introduce briefly other new members of the FCC, the new graduate students. Donghui Lu is a graduate of the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing. He worked briefly for a company that makes plastic packaging, and is quite skilled with computers. Sanjeev Khosla graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur and earned an M.S. from the University of Tennessee in Materials Science. He also spent time in the field of food packaging before deciding to pursue a Ph.D. Jian Zhang has the most experience with corrosion, having worked for 5 years studying SCC. A graduate of the University of Science and Technology, Beijing, he is well-grounded in the field. In the next year I am hoping to add a post-doc to the group, and probably at least a couple of more graduate students.
New Projects and Equipment
I want you all to know that exciting new things are happening at the FCC. Several new projects are underway with lots of new equipment coming in. A project that will support a grad student and a post doc is in the final stages of negotiation with the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. It will focus on the localized corrosion of Al alloys, and the role of inhibitor ions and surface treatments. Included in this contract is a considerable amount of money for equipment, which will be matched in full by various sources at OSU, and matched again by the Ohio Board of Regents. Several new potentiostats with computers and software will be purchased, providing the capability to do DC corrosion experiments and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy. We will also purchase an STM/AFM with in situ electrochemical capability.
A second effort is being funded by the TRP program in ARPA, which has a contract with IBM to develop a polymer/metal composite paste for electronic interconnect applications. We will study the electrochemical behavior of polymer-coated metal analogs to the polymer/metal composite material. The Wright Patterson Air Force Base is funding a student to investigate the use of paints as corrosion sensors. Other projects are also under development. A proposal was submitted in collaboration with the University of Cincinnati to build a research galvanizing facility. The FCC will be evaluating the corrosion resistance of the newly-developed coatings. Industrially-funded research on the pitting corrosion of ferritic stainless steels and chemical-mechanical polishing of metals for microelectronic chip wiring planarization are under discussion.
The World Wide Web
You obviously have found the FCC home page! Thanks for visiting! This page is still under construction, but the plan is to provide lots of information to the corrosion community and services to the FCC alumni. After you've finished viewing the FCC home page, check out the MSE departmental home page. There are also links to other groups studying corrosion.
You, the Friends and Alumni of the FCC
In preparation for this newsletter, I had several people go through a list of the graduates with advanced degrees from the Department of Metallurgical Engineering, and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering over the last 30 years. Alumni who did their graduate work in the Fontana Corrosion Center were identified. You may be interested to know that over one fourth of the total departmental alumni were associated with the FCC. The list is enclosed. It was taken from a master list that was not complete because it only included individuals for whom we had addresses. There also is no compilation of post-docs and visiting scientists who worked in the FCC. Please let me know if you are aware of anyone who should be added to the list: alumni, post-docs and visitors. It would be very helpful if you also had their address.
A list of FCC alumni will be also included as a section of the FCC home page. If you have a personal home page, it will be possible to link them, which is the way that communication will take place in the future. So send me your home page URL if you have one. It also is possible to list your regular-mail address, phone number, and email address to allow others to get in touch with you more easily. That information will only be available, however, if you explicitly contact me with instructions to do so. But I hope that many of you will.
I would like to hear from as many of you as possible. Please let me know where you are living, job information, recent accomplishments, children, grandchildren, pets, etc., which I will include in future newsletters to keep your friends informed. Also, please get in touch if you are interested in hiring materials scientists at any level. If you have any vexing corrosion problems, I would be interested in hearing about them. It may be possible to bring some resources to bear in helping you solve them. Finally, if you haven't already, you will soon be hearing about the new OSU Campaign, Affirm thy Friendship. President Gordon Gee has set a target of $850M over a 5 year period, which is unprecedented for a public university. When you respond to that request, please remember that you can specify that your contribution go to the MSE department, or even to the Fontana Corrosion Center where it will be put to good use in supporting corrosion research and purchasing equipment.
In closing, I would like to wish you and your family a happy holiday season and a healthy and prosperous new year.