Professor Dirk Engelberg

Industry Education/Experience: I’ve developed my interest in corrosion during my apprenticeship as Electroplater (1991-1994), which I completed in 1994 with a certified industry degree. I then obtained experience as electroplater in the surface finishing industry, initially focusing on precision electroplating of printed circuit boards followed by functional and decorative coating systems (Cu, Ni, Cr, Ag, Au) for engineering application. 

Academic Education: I joined the department of Surface Engineering and Materials Science at Aalen University (HTW Aalen, Germany) from where I graduated with a Diplom-Ingenieur (FH) degree in 2000. Following my move to the Corrosion and Protection Centre (UMIST) I then obtained a MSc in Corrosion Science and Engineering in 2001, and graduated with a PhD on "Grain Boundary Engineering for Intergranular Stress Corrosion Resistance in Austenitic Stainless Steel" under the supervision of Prof. James Marrow (Manchester/Oxford) and Prof. Roger Newman (Manchester/Toronto). In 2005 I joined the Materials Performance Centre (MPC) as Post-Doctoral Research Associate (PDRA) where most of my research was concerned with the effect of microstructure on localised corrosion & stress corrosion cracking in nuclear plant. I was appointed Lecturer in 2010, promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2015, and to Professor in 2020.

Expertise: I have broad expertise in steel metallurgy, microstructure and grain boundary engineering, corrosion/electrochemistry, and the application of in-situ characterisation techniques, including x-ray computed tomography, image analysis, and 2D/3D correlation methods. I have a keen interest in the characterisation of cement microstructure for immobilisation/encapsulation of nuclear waste, leaching behaviour, concrete microstructure and geological disposal application.

During my research I have achieved the first, in-situ, X-ray tomography observations of intergranular stress corrosion cracking in sensitised austenitic stainless steel and sensitised aluminium alloy 5083. These observations form now the basis of a meso-scale crack propagation model to improve stress corrosion cracking resistance.