3 Stages of the beginning of your PhD...aka...OMG what the H am I doing here?

PhD is not a goal, PhD is a journey, and a mighty transformative one at that. That it has different stages is a known fact. However, just the beginning of the PhD has different sub-stages.

The pre-beginning

the admit and preparation to leave

There is fear of the unknown as well as the excited anticipation of new places and people. Specifically in case of Indian students, the flurry of bag packing is accompanied with homemade pickles and snacks.

The beginning

orientation and settling in

The students at this point in time are faced with a bit of anxiety and struggle while searching for accommodation (for overseas universities). There is the factor of being so far away from the family for the first time. Then there also is the undercurrent of being able to manage finances and household chores. A very busy phase indeed.

The post-beginning

where the students settle into their research groups and begin the literature review.

Some may also begin small experiments. There is the enthusiasm of learning a new topic. I remember this being a relatively light phase when the focus was more on learning about not just the academics but also the country and the city.

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Resources for a corrosion beginner

Corrosion is a complex subject. It is difficult to pick and choose the starting point. It is very easy to spiral into a confused state of mind if the right resources are not available. Hence, I write this blog post to list out a few books which are great if you are a corrosion enthusiast. Here goes - 1. Corrosion Engineering by Mars. G Fontana I love this book and I always refer to it for my work. 2. Peabody's control of pipeline corrosion - 3. Corrosion engineering - Principles and practice - Pierre Roberge The website www.corrosion-doctors.org has a more extensive list of corrosion articles. Other than that, there are online corrosion magazines which you can access - 1. Materials performance - www.materialsperformance.com 2. corrosionpedia.com 3. CORROSION journal meridian.allenpress.com/corrosion - it has a few open access articles. Check out these resources as a starting point!

What is a Corrosion Loop - PART 2 - EXAMPLE

How to prepare a corrosion loop? To prepare a corrosion loop, the person in charge will look at the overall picture and answer the following questions - 1. What is the process? 2. What are the components? 3. What are the materials for each component? 4. What are the common features among them? 5. Where does the commonality end? - This is important as that will mark the beginning of a new corrosion loop. 6. Can I use the same inspection procedure for all of them? 7. Do they corrode/get damaged in the same manner due to the same reasons? WATCH THE VIDEO FOR A DETAILED EXPLANATION - Read part 1 here! https://corrospective.com/ 😀Happy learning! 😀

Corrosion in daily life - Steel frames on a balcony

Corrosion in daily life - Steel frames Looking at LinkedIn, corrosion may feel like an extremely intricate issue seen in large industries. However, looking around, we can see corrosion everywhere! Where was this photo taken? The photo above is of a steel frame attached to a balcony. The part shown here is the bottom part of the frame. The coatings for such steel parts usually serve the purpose of moderate corrosion protection and more of aesthetics. If you observe, the thickness of the coatings also does not seem to be a lot. Why did the coating degrade? When it rains, the rainwater collects on the bottom of the frames. This degrades the coating. At the places where it is not perfect anyway, the underlying steel is free to corrode. Most importantly, corrosion is more severe at the edges. It is severe enough to chip off the material entirely. That point is a prime site for crack formation and breaking of the frame. Have you seen such corrosion in your balcony fram...

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