The first meeting of the season of London Branch (joint with LMS) was very well attended and we welcomed speaker Dr Alex Parfitt of BAE Systems who spoke on Corrosion protection and monitoring of defence equipment. There are many figures banded about regarding the cost of corrosion, but it was salient to note that it is estimated that in the USA the annual cost is around $270bn and that £40bn of that relates to defence items and equipment, and that $100bn of the total is probably preventable. Dr Parfitt explained the use of state of the art sensors to monitor all manner parameters relating to corrosion of defence equipment including tanks, aircraft, ships and even munitions. Parameters measured by the sensors not only included corrosion itself, but also for example, temperature, humidity, chloride levels, pollutants, pH, wet/dry and UV light and how they change. The idea of use of the sensors is to be able to predict maintenance inspections – or even failures, and they are especially useful and very important for areas of difficult access. The sensors are not only used on equipment in service, but during construction as well. The talk was well illustrated and included much technical data.

Events

13 October 2011 London Branch Meeting
Speaker: Dr Alex Parfitt on ‘Corrosion protection and monitoring for defence equipment.’
Naval Club, 38 Hill Street, London W1
17.30 for 18.15 start

10^th November 2011 London Branch Meeting
London Branch joint meeting with Joining and Welding Society.
Speaker: Steve Hawesof Winn and Coales on 'Tape Selection - Getting th Full Picture'.
Naval Club, 38 Hill Street, London W1
17.30 for 18.15 start

1^st December 2011 London Branch Annual
Christmas Lunch
Royal Overseas League, Park Place, London SW1A
Contact Mike Allen: mike.allen9@btinternet.com

12^th January 2012 London Branch Meeting
Speaker: Dr Raouf Kattan on ‘Marine Coatings’
Naval Club, 38 Hill Street, London W1
17.30 for 18.15 start

9th February 2012 London Branch Meeting

Speaker: George Winning on 'Integrity and Corrosion Management'
Naval Club, 38 Hill Street, London W1
17.30 for 18.15 start

8th March 2012 London Branch AGM and Meeting

Speaker: Andy Taylor, London Branch Chairman
Naval Club, 38 Hill Street, London W1
17.30 for AGM at 18.00; meeting at 18.15 start

12th April 2012 London Branch Jpint Meeting with NACE (GB)
Speaker: David Harvey on 'Cathodoic Protection of Complext Structures'
Naval Club, 38 Hill Street, London W1
17.30 for 18.15 start

News

The November meeting of London Branch was joint with The Welding and Joining Society when 34 members and guests enjoyed an entertaining presentation by Steve Hawes of Winn and Coales. His subject was: ‘Tape selection – getting the full picture’, and his well illustrated talk, freely embellished with amusing anecdotes, demonstrated how important it is for applicators to read the instructions and abide by them. Steve covered several topics regarding wrapping tapes with case studies showing how various factors – including the ‘ingenuity’ of operators on occasions - could sometimes have disastrous results. Among the examples were the application of tape with the backing paper left on, attempts at patch repairs using wrapping tape, and in one instance, attempting to attach the tape with nails! It seems that wrapping tape in the desert in saline conditions is very attractive to camels and this was illustrated with a photo of a camel damaging the tape by licking the salt.

Contact Details

Chairman
Andy Taylor
Tel: 07717205406 (UK)
Tel: + 99 4773251548 (Azerbaijan)
Email: aetaylor12@yahoo.com

Secretary
Geoff White
01728 602289
Email: geoff.white237@btinternet.com

Members Area

Institute Technical Forum