Professor Robert Akid

Professor Robert Akid is a past holder of the BP/Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Corrosion & Materials. Prof. Akid is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (IOM3. His principal research activities include the evaluation of localised corrosion in metals/alloys and its implications in the early stages of corrosion and corrosion fatigue damage in which he has over 35 years experience. Since 1993 he has worked on comparing conventional methods of assessing corrosion damage with that of the new electrochemical scanning probe (ESP) techniques. Through this work he became the Coordinator of the EPSRC funded UK-based ESP Network which undertook and completed an associated EPSRC-funded Multi-Project Research Equipment programme to initiate University-Industry collaborative studies of localised corrosion of steels, Al alloys and welded systems using these techniques. Recent research council awards include (with Smith) two Medical Research Council grants, a Discipline Hopping Award, assessing (a) encapsulation of antibiotics in sol-gel coatings and (b) potential of enzyme encapsulated sol-gel coatings as biosensors; EPSRC and EPSRC Follow-on fund grants related to the “Development of a functional sol-gel coating system via encapsulation of microorganisms”. Prof Akid is a past recipient of a Royal Academy of Engineering Senior Research Fellowship and Yorkshire Enterprise Fellowship. Prof Akid has published some 100+ scientific papers covering the above research areas and more recently has published and successfully patented in the area of functional sol-gel coatings. He is widely connected with industry and has produced over 60 industrial research and expert witness reports. During his collaboration with BP he worked on investigating the corrosion and mechanical damage processes associated with materials operating in hostile environments within the oil and gas industry. His research topics have included the following;

1. Corrosion-Stress synergy. Corrosion fatigue, stress corrosion cracking and hydrogen embrittlement in extreme environments.
2. Development of local electrochemical scanning probe techniques for localised corrosion and Environment-assisted cracking.
3. Development of organic-inorganic hybrid functional sol gel coatings for corrosion resistant, antifouling and antibacterial surfaces
4. Evaluation of anti-infective and mechanical properties of antibiotic bone cements.
5.Modelling corrosion fatigue lifetime.
6.Cellular Automaton modelling of localized and stress-assisted localized corrosion.
7.Pit-Crack transition modelling based upon local electrochemical
techniques.
8.Development of anti-fouling/MIC coatings.
9.Development of anti-infective coatings for medical implants.
10.Crevice and Galvanic corrosion of pipeline materials.
11. Hydrogen embrittlement in high strength alloys for the oil & gas sector.