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University of New South Wales, Australia, recommends CI Microbalances

The School of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of New South Wales, one of Australia’s leading research and teaching universities, has a strong international reputation and close involvement with industry. The School’s graduates are highly sought-after across all areas of industry, from metallurgy to microelectronics to biomedical fields. Dr Jianqiang Zhang, a Senior Lecturer at the School who specialises in the field of gas-solid reactions at high temperature, has been using a MK2 Microbalance from CI Precision since 2005 to record weight change during high temperature corrosion of alloys in different reaction atmospheres. The CI microbalance is also being used by several research fellows, PhD students and other research students. Experiments ranging from half an hour to 100 hours measure the effects of gases such as O2, CO2+H2O and air on different materials, the results being recorded and analysed on LabWeigh Software and Microsoft Excel. Dr Zhang states:

“As our samples are rectangular shaped plates measuring 20 x 10 x 2 millimetres, the kit form of the CI microbalance, control unit, software and accessories enabled us to build exactly the experimental rig required to accommodate these test pieces.”

He adds,

“We decided to purchase from CI Precision because the price is good, the instruments are reliable and the customer support is excellent. In fact, I have already recommended this equipment to other researchers.”

Dr Zhang’s work has led to around 70 international journal papers (including book chapters) and more than 20 conference papers, including:

• J. Zhang, P. Munroe, D.J. Young, “Microprocesses in nickel accompanying metal dusting”, Acta Materialia, 56 (2008) pp 68-77.
• J. Zhang, D.J. Young, “Coking and Dusting of Fe-Ni Alloys in CO-H2-H2O Gas Mixtures”, Oxidation of Metals, 70 (2008) pp 189-211.
• J. Zhang, D.J. Young, “Kinetics and Mechanisms of nickel metal dusting I. Kinetics and morphology”, Corrosion Science, 49 (2007) pp1496-1512.
• J. Zhang, D.J. Young, “Effect of copper on metal dusting of austenitic stainless steels”, Corrosion Science, 49 (2007) pp 1450-1467.
• J. Zhang, D. M. I. Cole, D. J. Young, “Alloying with Copper to Reduce Metal Dusting of Nickel”, Materials and Corrosion, 56 (2005) 756-764.

For more information about CI microbalance kits and accessories from CI Precision, please telephone +44 (0) 1722 424100, or e-mail sales@ciprecision.com