Dr. Dirk Lars Engelberg

Title: Professor in Materials Performance & Corrosion

Affiliations: Department of Materials - Metallurgy & Corrosion - Dalton Nuclear Institute

Position: (i) Professor - Research & Teaching, (ii) Line Manager - Hard Materials Group, (iii) Metallurgy & Corrosion Theme Lead, (iv) Corrosion @ Manchester (*formerly UMIST's Corrosion and Protection Centre), (v) UoManchester - Sellafield Effluent & Decontamination Centre of Expertise (Decontamination Lead). 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Industry Education/Experience: I’ve developed my interest in corrosion during my apprenticeship as Electroplater (1991-1994), which I completed in 1994 with a certified industry degree (IHK - Industrie & Handels Kammer). I then obtained experience as electroplater in the surface finishing industry, initially focusing on precision electroplating of printed circuit boards followed by functional and decorative coating systems (Zn, Cu, Ni, Cr, Ag, Au) for engineering application. 

Education: I joined the department of Surface Engineering and Materials Science at Aalen University (HTW Aalen, Germany) from where I graduated with a Diplom-Ingenieur (FH) degree in 2000. Following my move to the Corrosion and Protection Centre (UMIST), I then obtained a MSc in Corrosion Science and Engineering in 2001, and graduated with a PhD on "Grain Boundary Engineering for Intergranular Stress Corrosion Resistance in Austenitic Stainless Steel" under the supervision of Prof. James Marrow (Manchester/Oxford) and Prof. Roger Newman (Manchester/Toronto). In 2005 I joined the Materials Performance Centre (MPC) as Post-Doctoral Research Associate (PDRA) where most of my research was concerned with the effect of microstructure on localised corrosion & stress corrosion cracking in nuclear plant.

Academic Appointments: I was appointed Lecturer in 2010 (BNFL Endowed Lecturer in Geological Disposal), promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2015, and further in 2020 to Full Professor in Materials Performance & Corrosion.

Expertise:  Carbon Steels, Stainless Steels, Aluminum Alloys (mainly 6xxx, 7xxx series), Nickel-alloys; Metallurgy & Processing; Grain Boundary Engineering; Hydrogen & Net-Zero Engineering; Bipolar, Electrochemistry & Corrosion; In-situ Imaging Techniques (Image Analysis, X-ray Computed Tomography, 2D/3D Correlation Methods); Contamination & Dectontamination; Concrete, Mortar, Cement Microstructure; Geological Disposal Corrosion Research (Steel in Cement/Bentonite); High-throughput Corrosion Screening, Rapid Characterisaton Techniques.

Ideas, Innovation & Beyond: (i) Rapid hydrogen concentration analysis in metals, (ii) Local electrochemistry with portable/pen electrodes, (iii) Gradient elecrochemistry & bipolar electrochemistry, (iv) High-throughput corrosion screening, (v)  Micro-sample corrosion & SCC testing, (vi) Sustainability & corrosion , (vii) Next generation electrolysis design, (viii) Net zero engineering.

Further Engagements & Commitments:

Vice Chair (2024 onwards)- European Federation of Corrosion: WP5

Environment Sensitive Fracture (https://efcweb.org/WP5.html)

Section Editor (2024) - Shreir's Corrosion Handbook (Elsevier Publisher)

MSc Corrosion Control Engineering (CCE) - MATS66301 Principles of Corrosion (15 credits, unit coordinator, redox, electrochemistry, theory, Nernst, Butler-Volmer, Pourbaix, corrosion rate measurements and electrochemical techniques - DVM, LPR, Potentiodynamic, EIS)

MEng Materials Science & Engineering - Yr 1 (MSE) - MATS16402 Materials Shaping the World (20 credits, unit coordinator, corrosion intro, rust, batteries, environment, coatings, protection & prevention).

MSc NTEC - PHYS65160 Reactor Materials & Life-time Assessment (15 credits, unit coordinator, Reactor materials, Stainless Steels, Ni-base alloys, Corrosion Engineering, Corroion Rate & Failures, Application of Characterisation Techniques)

Foundation Year - Group Projects: (2021/2022) Failure Analysis of a Corroded Pressure Vessel: A Case Study; (2022/23) 3D Reverse Engineering using Photogrammetry & Additive Manuacturing; (2023/24) Net Zero Engineering – Hydrogen Storage & Its Legacy. 

Final Year MSE Project 23/24: Passive Film Engineering of Stainless Steels for Offshore Power Plant

MSc Projects 23/24:

2024 Invited Presentations & Talks at International Conferences/Workshops

(i) 16.05-18.05.24 Talk: Chongqing/China - Title: "Corrosion Resistance of Stainless Steels & Nickel Alloys – The Key for Delivering Sustainability and Net-Zero Engineering"

(ii) 06.24 Oxford EPRI - Hydrogen Workshop (Organiser - Emilio Paneda); title - TBC

(iii) EuroCorr2024 Paris - Submitted Talks:  (1) WP4 - A.Hanson, et al.:  Assessing the Effect of Strain on Stress Corrosion Crack Nucleation in Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor Fuel Cladding; (2) WP6 - N.Sweeney-Fort, et al.: The Effect of PGM Additions on the Corrosion Resistance of Powder Metallurgy Processed Type 316L Stainless Steel; (3) WP14 - Dr Y.Zhou, et al., Investigating the Corrosion Mechanism of High-velocity Oxygen-fuel (HVOF) Hard-facing Materials using Bipolar Electrochemistry, (4) TF-AM - Dr Y.Zhou et al, Co-operative Enhancement of Mechanical Properties and Pitting Corrosion Performance for Additively Manufactured Type 420 Stainless Steel with Spherical Tungsten Carbides, (5) WP7 - D.Engelberg: Corrosion Education - From Rust, Degradation and Deterioration to Electrolysers, Batteries, and Steam Reforming Reactions, (6) WP6 - B.Eroglu et al.: Understanding Welding-induced SCC of Type 316L Stainless Steel in HCl-containing Environment, (7) WP T.Hillman et al.: Time-resolved Characterisation of Corrosion Processes with Hyper Spectral Imaging, LIBS and Raman Spectroscopy, (8) WP Hydrogen T.Hillman et al.: In-Situ Measurement of Diffusible Hydrogen in Ferritic and Austenitic Stainless Steels using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy.

(iv) Duplex Stainless Steel World 2024 - Rotterdam, 6th & 7th November (Steering (Committee, Moderator, Presenter(?)) - Proposed Talk: "Passivation Treatment of Duplex Stainless Steels".

Research Projects & Team - December 2023