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Showing posts with the label scientists

CAREER OPTIONS IN CORROSION

  CAREER OPTIONS IN CORROSION The first time I studied corrosion was in 2009. The last 14 years have taught me one important thing - The path of a career in corrosion is not as straightforward as we are led to believe. Whether we are starting as a student of corrosion, or are entering the field after working as a non-corrosion person, there is always some career pathway that we are not aware of. There are research projects, certifications , audits, inspections , etc. EveryEng gave me the opportunity to share my learnings about the possible options in the field of corrosion . If you are someone who is starting or wants to switch to/between corrosion and its related fields, here is a short presentation for you! https://www.everyeng.com/mentor/course/view/3559864f 😀 Happy learning! 😀

3 steps to begin experiments...aka...I am lost in this lab!

  All the students in the first few days of research are faced with the dilemma of the right time and way to begin experimentation. There are as many ways and thought processes to do so as there are people. I will share my learnings here. The problem is that the literature review tends to become so vast that it is difficult to decide what the exact problem is. 1. The best way is to NOT WAIT for the literature review to get over. Begin with the experiments simultaneously. Gain experience on as many new techniques as possible. 2. Start with that research paper which will most likely form the basis of your work. Attempt to reproduce the experiments in the paper. Try to see what other experiments can corroborate those results. 3. Select the correct research papers to continue the literature review. P.S. All the experiments should have a reason for doing them. You should be able to answer the question 'Why should I do this experiment? What will I learn?'

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 l...

Corrosion rate and pipe design

Corrosion is a serious issue. However, corrosion engineers are rarely asked about it during the designing of components. It is only when the components fail that people remember there are people who have studied corrosion for their whole life and would provide a solution. The design problems are really quite simple, and the loss of money could have been avoided had the company bothered to involve a corrosion engineer in the first place. Let me illustrate this with an example of a factory near the sea. Suppose a mild steel pipe is fitted inside the factory to transport 1 wt. % hydrochloric acid. The engineer has a choice between selecting pipes of 5 mm and 10 mm thickness. To save money, they go for the pipe with the 5 mm thickness because it has been 'successfully used by the other customers'. Over the course of a year, it is seen that the pipe has started leaking at certain places. Further investigation reveals that those sections have thinned to half of their thickn...