R.C. Newman
MA, PhD (Cambridge), DSc, CEng, FIMMM, FNACE, FICorr (Hon) NSERC-UNENE Senior Industrial Research Chair in Corrosion and Materials Performance in Nuclear Power Systems
Room: WB224
Tel.: 416-946-0604
Email: roger.newman@utoronto.ca
Nuclear Industry Websites:
UNENE
CANTEACH
Awards and Memberships:
- 1994 Fellow of the Institute of Materials (UK).
- 1994 Third triennial Helmuth Fischer Medal of DECHEMA (Frankfurt) for 'outstanding contributions to fundamental aspects of electrochemistry relevant to corrosion'.
- 1997 Fellow of NACE International.
- 1998 T.P. Hoar Prize of the Institute of Corrosion (best paper in Corrosion Science during 1997; jointly with N.J. Laycock).
- 2001 W.R. Whitney Award of NACE International.
- 2003 U.R. Evans Award of the Institute of Corrosion, Honorary Life Fellow of the Institute.
- 2003 T.P. Hoar Prize of the Institute of Corrosion (best paper in Corrosion Science during 2002; jointly with P. Ernst).
- 2004 H.H. Uhlig Award of the Corrosion Division of the Electrochemical Society.
- 2007 T.P. Hoar Prize of the Institute of Corrosion (best paper in Corrosion Science during 2006; jointly with M.H. Moayed).
- 2007 Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Max Planck Institute for Iron and Steel Research.
- 2008 Member of the National Academies ROCSE (Research Opportunities in Corrosion Science and Engineering) committee, Washington DC.
Research Opportunities
Up to 5 graduate students are required from September, 2009 for research in corrosion and protection of metals. Summer employment is also available.
Available project areas include:
- Atomistic simulation of alloy corrosion
- Stress corrosion cracking in nuclear power systems
- Studies of the film-induced cleavage phenomenon in metals
- Monitoring of nuclear waste storage systems
- New alloys for advanced nuclear power systems
- Sulfur chemistry and corrosion
- Composite nanoporous metals for biomedical and other applications
Research Interests
Corrosion and Protection of Metals
Corrosion is not only one of the most costly forms of material degradation - it also offers a fertile area of interdisciplinary research, and can even be harnessed to make useful products such as metallic nanostructures.
A particular concern is the mechanical rupture of components due to stress corrosion cracking – the slow growth of cracks in a reactive environment. Stress corrosion failure is at the core of safety and risk analyses in several industries, including nuclear power generation. By understanding corrosion and stress corrosion mechanisms at the microscopic scale, not only can corrosion problems be mitigated, but insights can be obtained that are relevant to surprisingly remote areas of science and technology.
The main fundamental research theme of the group is the role of alloying elements in the corrosion performance of alloys. On one level, this is an atomistic issue. Computer simulation and advanced surface characterization are used to understand the dissolution, oxidation, and motion (by surface diffusion) of particular elements. Electrochemical techniques play an essential role in monitoring the kinetics of metal dissolution across semi-protective surface layers consisting of less-reactive metals and/or oxides. Molecular adsorption can be used to further modify or probe events at the interface. Relevant timescales range from seconds, in the case of an event occurring at the tip of a crack, to thousands of years, in the case of alloys used for containment of high-level nuclear waste. Alongside these atomistic considerations lies the recognition that localized corrosion of metals is an autocatalytic or coupled reaction-transport process in which the dissolution products acidify the local solution. Thus modelling skills are required to elucidate stability criteria and morphology development in localized corrosion sites; the morphologies and patterns that form deterministically in such sites are surprisingly rich.
Alongside this underlying research programme there is a vigorous activity in support of the Canadian nuclear power industry. Issues in steam-generator corrosion, waste storage and reactor component performance are being defined and offered as student projects in collaboration with industrial partners. Other industries with current corrosion issues include pulp and paper, oil and gas, and automotive, amongst others. Recently we have developed an activity in the prediction and monitoring of corrosion of steel reinforcement in concrete.
Curious nanoscale morphologies occur when elements are selectively dissolved (de-alloyed) from metallic alloys. Depending on the alloy system, the pore and ligament sizes in the resulting nanoporous structure may be stable at the 2-3 nm level, or may be coarsened in a controlled manner to hundreds or even thousands of nm, without losing the connectivity of the structure. Such materials have potential as membranes, templates, catalysts, sensor substrates, and high-surface-area electrodes, with applications in many areas such as biomedical technology, fuel cells, and filtration.
Sensor development is a natural extension of corrosion research, with common electrochemical themes. Work is proceeding on thin-film PEM-based hydrogen sensors, and sensors for deleterious metallurgical conditions in alloys, such as sigma phase in duplex stainless steels.
Selected Publications
(Last 10 years) N.J. Laycock, S.P. White, J.S. Noh, P.T. Wilson and R.C. Newman, Perforated covers for propagating pits. J. Electrochem. Soc., 145, 1101-1107 (1998).
R.C. Newman, S.G. Corcoran, J. Erlebacher, M.J. Aziz and K. Sieradzki, Alloy corrosion. MRS Bulletin 24(7), 24-28 (1999).
R.C. Newman, T.S. Gendron and P. M. Scott, Internal oxidation and embrittlement of Alloy 600. Proceedings of the Ninth International Symposium on Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Power Systems--Water Reactors, TMS-AIME, Warrendale, PA, pp 79-93 (2000).
R.C. Newman, Understanding the corrosion of stainless steel. Corrosion, 57, 1030-1041 (2001).
P. Ernst and R.C. Newman, Pit growth studies in stainless steel foils - I Introduction and growth kinetics. Corros. Sci., 44, 927-941 (2002).
R.C. Newman, Stress Corrosion Cracking Mechanisms. Corrosion Mechanisms in Theory and Practice, eds P. Marcus and J. Oudar, 2nd ed, pp 399-450, Marcel Dekker, New York (2002).
R.C. Newman, Beyond the kitchen sink. Nature (News and Views), Feb 14 2002.
R.P. George, D. Marshall and R.C. Newman, Mechanism of a MIC probe. Corros. Sci., 45, 1999-2015 (2003).
J. Deakin, B. Lynch, Z. Dong and R.C. Newman, De-alloying of 316L stainless steel in hot, concentrated NaOH solution. Corros. Sci., 46, 2117-2133 (2004).
H. Radhakrishnan, A. Carcea and R.C. Newman, Influence of Pb++ ions on the dissolution and passivation of nickel and Ni-21Cr in acidic solutions. Corros. Sci., 47, 3234-3240 (2005).
M.A. Dominguez Aguilar and R.C. Newman, Detection of deleterious phases in duplex stainless steel by weak galvanostatic polarization in alkaline solution. Corros. Sci., 49, 2560-2576 (2006).
L.W. Lee, D.X. He, A.G. Carcea and R.C. Newman, Exploring the reactivity and nanoscale morphology of de-alloyed layers. Corros. Sci., 49, 72-80 (2007).
T.J. Marrow, L. Babout, A.P. Jivkov, P. Wood, D. Engelberg, N. Stevens, P.J. Withers and R.C. Newman, Three dimensional observations and modeling of intergranular stress corrosion cracking in austenitic stainless steel, J. Nuclear Materials, 352, 62-74 (2006).
N.A. Senior and R.C. Newman, Synthesis of tough nanoporous metals by controlled electrolytic de-alloying. Nanotechnology, 17, 2311-2316 (2006).
R.C. Newman and C. Healey, Stability, validity, and sensitivity to input parameters of the slip-dissolution model for stress corrosion cracking. Corros. Sci., 49, 4040-4050 (2007).
P. Ernst and R.C. Newman, A kinetic interpretation of the peculiar interaction between alloyed molybdenum and dissolved bromide in the pitting corrosion of stainless steels. Electrochemical and Solid State Letters, 11, C1-C4 (2008).
R.C. Newman and F. Scenini, Another way to think about the critical oxide volume fraction for the internal to external oxidation transition? Corrosion, 64, 721-726 (2008).
A. Barnes, N.A. Senior and R.C. Newman, Film-induced cleavage of AgAu alloys. Metall. Trans. A, in press (2008).