Abstract
The XXI International Materials Research Congress (IMRC) 2012 was held during August in one of the most pleasant and beautiful places of Mexico, situated in the tropical Yucatan Peninsula. It was jointly promoted and organized by the Sociedad Mexicana de Materiales (MRS-Mexico) and the Materials Research Society (MRS-USA).
This annual meeting provides a forum to assess advances in the vast field of materials science, technology and engineering. It has become a tradition for thousands of basic and applied researchers and peers from industry as well as graduate and postgraduate students who fly from all over the world.
IMRC 2012 consisted of eight main themes: nanoscience and technology; materials characterisation; materials for energy production; biomaterials; polymers; electronics and photonics; fundamental material science and general topics, including academy-industry relationships. These were divided into 27 smaller symposia.
Several professional societies, sponsors and exhibitors involved in the congress offered an exciting multidisciplinary stage for exchange of ideas and information with colleagues from different orientations and origins.
The following plenary lectures were presented:
Plasmonic manipulating light at the nanoscale by Professor Cecilia Gomez, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
Materials science and device technology from laboratory to real world application by Dr. Carlos a. Paz de Araujo, University of Colorado,USA.
Platonic and Archimedean geometries in elastic membranes by Professor Monica Olvera de la Cruz, Northwestern University, USA.
Solution processable two dimensional materials for energy applications by Professor Manisch Chhowalla, Rutgers University, USA
Living hybrid materials for green energy production, environmental mediation and smart cell therapy by Professor Dr. Bao Lion Su, University Pierre and Marie Curie, France
Radio astronomy: the achievements and the challenges by Dr. D. Luis F. Rodriguez, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
The NACE corrosion and metallurgy symposium (7C) was organised by Jorge Canto (Corrosion y Proteccion Ingenieria, Mexico) Armando Ahumada (Pemex-Petroquimica, Mexico), Francisco Javier (Facultad de Quimica, UNAM, Mexico) and Alberto Martinez (Centro en Materiales Avanzados, Mexico), all well-known corrosion experts from research institutions and industrial enterprises. This symposium was supported by Dr. Lorenzo Martinez Gomez, Past Director, Latin America Region NACE International.
In this active symposium, the principles and practice of corrosion science and engineering were discussed, with the emphasis on the interaction of the chemical, physical, metallurgical and mechanical properties of the materials and their intimate relationship with the corrosive, natural and man-made environments involved. Topics covered included: atmospheric corrosion; corrosion in civil construction; electrochemical techniques and corrosion monitoring; environmentally assisted cracking; high temperature corrosion; microbiological corrosion; corrosion in the chemical power generation and oil industries.
The corrosion symposium consisted of 92 oral and poster contributions. Many contributions presented an assessment of a current problem and a proposed solution. Some of the most original and exciting topics included:
Atmospheric corrosion in the XXI century, E. Corvo, J. Reyes, T. Perez, Universidad Autonoma de Campeche, Mexico.
Corrosion in marine-industrial atmosphere, L. Gil, L. Linares, B. Ortiz, Universidad Nacional Experimental Politecnica, Mexico
Comparative study: metals corrosion and human respiration, M. Schorr, N. Lotan, B. Valdez, M. Carrillo, A. Eleazar, Mexico and Isarael.
Corrosivity in buried pipelines, A. Yajima, R. Liang, J. Castaneda, University of Akron, USA.
Phosphate anticorrosion pigment, K. Tuczka, B. Grzmil, West Pomeranian, University of Technology, Poland.
Green corrosion inhibitors, R. Garcia, B. Valdez, M. Schor, Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Mexico.
Steel corrosion evaluation exposed to Pacific and Mexican Gulf seawater by electrochemical technique, E. Cuevas, Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos, Mexico.
Recently, a NACE corrosion students section had been formed at the Institute of Engineering of the University of Baja California sponsored by the NACE International Central Mexico Section. It groups together postgraduate students from the MSc. and Dsc. programmes in Science and Engineering on subjects related to materials and corrosion in environments, industries and infrastructure. The section is planning to expand their activities to create a national corrosion student section that will have the support of NACE International.
This conference provided an important tool for developing national and international collaboration between corrosion scientists and practitioners. This is the leading scientific event in Latin America focused exclusively on materials science, technology and engineering. More info on the conference and its content can be found at www.mrs-mexico.org.mx A CD containing the full papers delivered at Symposium 7C, has been produced (ISBN 978-607- 95042-8-1) and all the papers’ abstracts can be downloaded from the website.