The recipient of 2015 Lee Hsun Lecture Series—Lee Hsun Young Scientist Lecture Series on Materials Science, Dr. Nick Birbilis from Monash University visited Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMR, CAS) from December 1 to 3, 2016.

Dr. Birbilis delivered a lecture entitled “Controlling the Corrosion of Magnesium Alloys”. He introduced the contemporary understanding of Mg electrochemistry in the context of seeking to control Mg electrochemistry for stifling corrosion. He also presented a number of demonstrations that show the ability to control Mg corrosion by Alloying, Alloy design, conversion coating and functional coating systems in his lecture.

Dr. Birbilis is presently the Woodside Innovation Chair at Monash University where he is also the Head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. His research interests include the broad areas of corrosion and corrosion control. Current focus is centered on microstructure-corrosion relationships, exploring the metallurgical factors that dictate localized corrosion initiation and propagation.

Dr. Birbilis is Associate Editor for the journal Electrochimica Acta, and Editor-in-chief of npj Materials Degradation. He is also a Fellow of the National Association of Corrosion Engineers, USA (NACE) and The Electrochemical Society, USA. Dr. Birbilis has made several key contributions in elucidating the electrochemistry of magnesium, which is of important relevance in the context of light weighting, electrodes and energy applications. He has won numerous international awards for his work such as Electrochimica Acta Award (ISE), H.H. Uhlig Award (NACE) and Victorian Tall Poppy Award (AIPS).

Group photo of Prof. ZHANG Jian, the Deputy Director of IMR (left), Dr. Nick Birbilis (middle) and Prof. HAN Enhou (right). (Image by IMR)