Corrosion Chronicles

In this episode, Richard Clapp, retired principal consultant from DuPont, joins co-hosts Heather Allain and Marc Cook for a discussion on the role of materials expertise in process commercialization. Drawing on decades of industry experience, Richard outlines the three primary types of process commercialization and the institutional challenges companies often face when scaling new processes from the bench to production. The convers...

In this episode, the second installment of a two-part series, Bert Jennings, owner of Jennings Materials Consulting in Spring, Texas, rejoins co-hosts Heather Allain and Marc Cook to continue their discussion on hydrofluoric acid (HF) and anhydrous hydrogen fluoride (AHF) service. Building on Part 1, the conversation shifts to detection, materials, and real-world application. Bert outlines key NDE techniques for identifying crackin...

In this episode, the first installment of a two-part series, Bert Jennings, owner of Jennings Materials Consulting in Spring, Texas, joins co-hosts Heather Allain and Marc Cook for a technical discussion on hydrofluoric acid (HF) and anhydrous hydrogen fluoride (AHF) service. Bert begins by outlining where HF is commonly used and addressing common industry tropes and misconceptions about how the fluid behaves in process environment...

In this episode, Robert Freed, Ph.D., FASM, Associate Director at the Materials Technology Institute, joins co-hosts Heather Allain and Marc Cook for a practical, materials-focused discussion on corrosion and wear. Robert helps clarify the differences between abrasion, adhesive wear, erosion, and cavitation, and explains how these damage mechanisms commonly show up in industrial equipment such as extruders and other high-wear compo...

In this episode, Evan Lowrance, Corporate NDT Engineer at Webco Industries, and Jonathan Konerza, Tubing Division Manager at Sentinel Integrity Solutions, join co-hosts Heather Allain and Marc Cook for an in-depth look at eddy current testing (ECT) of heat exchanger tubes. Together, they break down how ECT works, the differences between internal and external testing, and how factors like magnetism and material conductivity influenc...

In this episode, Danny Mock, managing partner for M10 Process Equipment, Inc., joins co-hosts Heather Allain and Marc Cook to take listeners inside the world of column internals and the fundamentals that drive mass-transfer performance. Danny breaks down what mass-transfer equipment is and how internals efficiency is evaluated, offering practical insight into design considerations that influence reliability and long-term operation....

In this episode, Mukesh Ahlavadi, Global Director of the Chemicals Market at NobelClad, joins co-hosts Heather Allain and Marc Cook to explore the world of metal cladding and its critical role in modern engineering applications. Together, they provide an overview of hot roll bonding versus explosion cladding, examining the key drivers behind each process and why industries turn to cladding for enhanced material performance and corr...

In this episode, Kevin Ganschow, materials & corrosion consultant at Mechanical Materials Engineering, LLC, joins co-hosts Heather Allain and Marc Cook to unpack the intricacies of gasketed joints. The discussion begins with a foundational look at flange assemblies as systems before diving into key factors such as gasket stress, bolt reuse, and lubrication. Kevin highlights best practices for bolted joint assembly and integrity...

In this episode, Jennifer Larimore and Avery Boyer, Materials Engineers at Chemours, join co-hosts Heather Allain and Marc Cook to share an inside look at how a materials lab works. Jennifer and Avery walk through the step-by-step process of analyzing samples—from sectioning, cleaning, reviewing documentation and photographing through the final wrap up of documenting and communicating findings to the customer. They discuss an...

In this episode, Cathleen Shargay, Advisor of Materials and Welding Engineering at Becht, joins co-hosts Heather Allain and Marc Cook to explore the complexities of materials selection during project execution. The conversation covers a wide range of essential topics, from understanding what materials selection diagrams (MSDs) are and how they interface with process engineering, to evaluating life cycle cost inputs and establishing...

In this episode, Ana Benz, Chief Engineer at IRISNDT, joins co-hosts Heather Allain and Marc Cook for a deep dive into selecting non-destructive examination (NDE) techniques based on expected damage mechanisms. Ana shares insights on recent advancements in radiography, field-based hardness testing, and imaging of hardness indents to assess effectiveness. The conversation also explores proper surface cleaning for inspections, the us...

In this episode, Murray Pearson, Director, HPM Technology Development, Metals at Hatch, joins hosts Heather Allain and Marc Cook to delve into the intricacies of abrasion, erosion, and erosion corrosion. They explore the impact of these phenomena on various equipment types, the materials responsible for these damages, and effective strategies for equipment protection. Topics include impingement effects, methods for evaluating mater...

In this episode, Ben Sprengard, managing director of innovation at Enerfab, sits down with co-hosts Heather Allain and Marc Cook to discuss fabrication considerations for duplex stainless steels. They explore key topics, including property comparisons to austenitic stainless steels, forming, machining, welding, phase transformation during cooling, welding QC, solution annealing, QC for duplex fabrication, in-service inspection, and...

In this episode, Steven Clarke joins co-hosts Heather Allain and Marc Cook to dive into the world of mining and mineral processing. They break down the differences between hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy, explore various leaching methods, and discuss solvent extraction and electrowinning. The conversation highlights how water and ore contaminants impact material compatibility, the challenges of abrasion resistance, and what new ...

In this episode, Gary Whittaker, retired Engineering Fellow from Eastman Chemical and MTI Fellow, sits down with co-hosts Heather Allain and Marc Cook to recount some past failures he was involved in failure analysis on. They chat about: an API storage tank that leaked and contaminated a nearby river, some Nickel-Chrome-Moly alloy piping with stress cracking found due to indications on an associated clad vessel, and some Nickel-Mol...

In this episode, Arun Sreeranganathan, principal at Stress Engineering Services, sits down with co-hosts Heather Allain and Marc Cook to discuss creep in the context of chemical facilities. They chat about: the definition of creep, homologous temperature, creep in plastics, contrasting creep with SRC, How the ASME code handles the subject, creep curves, sources for creep info, how creep data is developed, using uniaxial data to des...

In this episode, Ben McCurry, Senior Expert of Materials Engineering and Inspection at BASF Corporation, joins co-hosts Heather Allain and Marc Cook to dive into the world of corrosion testing. They cover a wide range of topics, including the purpose of corrosion testing, lab testing versus in-situ methods, and the use of corrosion resistance tables. The discussion explores valuable insights from sister plants, decision-making crit...