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Shipilov is the 2023 MP Corrosion Innovation of the Year Award Finalist
January 16, 2023
Shipilov has been selected as a finalist for the 2023 MP (Materials Performance) Corrosion Innovation of the Year Award. The innovation is a “Thermosyphon-Based Irradiation Experiment Assembly for In-Core IASCC/FCC (irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking/fatigue corrosion cracking) Studies.” “It is a unique case in science and engineering because the innovative experimental setup was designed individually, without the involvement of others, by Dr. Shipilov alone. The project focused on the integrity of naval nuclear reactors, began after his meeting [on October 9, 2015] with Vice Adm. K.L. Card (Ret.), the former CO [Commanding Officer] of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). Sergei should focus more closely on the problem after being invited [January 14, 2016] to the Department of Defense and asked to help the U.S. Armed Forces deal with the most devastating corrosion problem(s). One of the requirements was to conduct the studies in a few years at the minimum cost, mainly using available facilities. He designed an irradiation experiment assembly (IEA) based on a two-phase closed thermosyphon, which can be installed in the large vertical experiment facility (VXF) position of the U.S. Department of Energy’s High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR), less than a half meter from the reactor core center. As a passively driven thermal management device, the thermosyphon utilizes the motive forces of natural convection, creating a cyclic fluid flow from high heat to low heat and back; it doesn’t require mechanical or electrical pumps to move fluid through its closed-loop system. The innovation allows conducting IASCC [and IAFCC] studies in HFIR without contaminating its primary coolant and designing, constructing, and maintaining an expensive pressurized water loop (always required for in-core SCC tests), for which there is no space at HFIR. The innovation substantially saves costs and time and eliminates radioactive contamination of necessary instrumentation and equipment; it allows the evaluation of the dose-dependent susceptibility of materials to crack and the residual-life assessment of reactor core components under cyclic loading for the first time,” said Pat Teevens, FNACE, a veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy on October 14, 2022.
Note: The IASCC/FCC is considered by the U.S. Department of Energy one of the highest priority issues affecting the longevity of existing nuclear power plants. In addition, it causes substantial delays in the maintenance of nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers in service with the U.S. and Allied navies. Until recently, only two research reactors suitable for in-core studies of IASCC were available worldwide—Halden Reactor in Norway and Japan Materials Testing Reactor (JMTR). Experimental setups at Halden and JMTR did not allow studying IAFCC, which (not IASCC) represents the actual problem for the nuclear industry. In 2018 and 2021, respectively, decisions were made to stop and decommission the aged Halden Reactor and JMTR.
Shipilov won the Oladis Troconis de Rincón Field Applied Technology Award
December 16, 2022
Shipilov has been selected as the inaugural recipient of the Oladis Troconis de Rincón Field Applied Technology Award of the Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). He is honored “for achievements in applying engineering and scientific principles to protecting and preserving the U.S. Army’s double V-hull Stryker combat vehicles.” A series of investigations he conducted in 2016/2017 for the U.S. Army on structural cracking issues in newer DVH Stryker combat vehicles—which brought into question their ability to withstand blast mines and improvised explosive devices and affected the availability of fielded vehicles in Afghanistan in the early 2010s—significantly enhanced the blast protection of soldiers inside vehicles. Shipilov not only determined (for the first time it was done) the cause and mechanism of the cracking, but he also revealed that cracking on the lower-right fender was the generic problem of the DVH design rather than of a dozen vehicles with already cracked fenders, as the military initially thought. Most importantly, he proposed the only possible (and inexpensive) solution to the entire problem during his visit to the Retrofit and Stryker National Repair Center (SNR) at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) at the U.S. Army request in February 2017. [read more]
Shipilov is the 2021 MP Corrosion Innovation of the Year Award Finalist
January 22, 2021
Shipilov has been selected as a finalist for the 2021 MP (Materials Performance) Corrosion Innovation of the Year Award for the world’s first experimental irradiation assembly, which he designed for in situ and operando monitoring of electrochemically controlled irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking (IASCC) in cyclically loaded fracture-mechanics specimens under the influence of high-temperature water (up to 347 °C, 15.5 MPa) and radiation and that also allows for charging pre-cracked specimens with hydrogen at any specific crack growth rate, measured with the world’s highest average crack extension resolution of about 10 nm, allowing the use of—for the first time in high-temperature water—an experimental method developed for quantitatively defining the extent of hydrogen-induced cracking and stress-assisted dissolution in corrosion fatigue crack growth. The innovative experimental set-up and associated remote-sensing instrumentation were designed to conduct the world’s most challenging and demanding experiment(s) in metallurgy and corrosion science and engineering, allowing for examining the validity of various hypotheses and determining the efficacy of something previously untried regarding IASCC in the U.S. Department of Energy’s High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR), which provides one of the highest steady-state neutron fluxes of any research reactor in the world and is the highest flux-reactor-based source for neutron-scattering experiments in the United States.
FIRST-M reported to the National Commission on Military Aviation Safety,
February 14, 2020
FIRST-M first assessed the impact of corrosion and materials deterioration on the U.S. Navy combat readiness, with a focus on Navy and Marine Corps aircraft for the National Commission on Military Aviation Safety, which was created by Congress in 2019 out of concern for the recent increase in military aviation accidents. It was summarized that “Service experience and the numerous examples—all based on the (unclassified) information available in the open sources that do not violate operational security—clearly illustrate that the Department of the Navy is not doing enough to protect the ships and aircraft of the U.S. fleet from corrosion, though ‘about 25 percent of their total combined annual maintenance budget is directed to the prevention and correction of corrosion’ (U.S. General Accounting Office, 2003). Corrosion, like (or even more than) decades ago, affects the Navy’s overall readiness and continues to be the number one cost driver in life cycle costs... The lack of expertise within the Department of the Navy and its research organizations/ contractors in the area of environmental cracking—which has been responsible for many structural failures and accidents, including fatal aircraft crashes—adversely affects the ability of the Navy and Marine Corps to respond rapidly to national security and foreign commitments. This should not be the case because today’s fundamental science and technology is capable of practically and reasonably controlling much materials deterioration (corrosion) and SCC.”
Two invited lectures at
MS&T18 in Columbus, Ohio,
October 15, 2018
Shipilov delivered two invited lectures at the Materials Science & Technology Conference (MS&T18), held October 14-18, 2018, Columbus, OH. One of his lectures, “Mechanism of Crack Initiation and Propagation in a Stryker Light Armored Vehicle,” was given at the Symposium on User-Related Failures – Transportation. The second lecture, “An Experimental Irradiation Assembly for the Performance of In-Reactor IASCC Tests under Cyclic Loading,” was given at the Symposium on Environmental Degradation and Embrittlement of Structural Materials. At the latter Symposium, he also delivered a lecture, entitled “Water Infrastructure Corrosion: What Prevents Us from Preventing It?”
S.A. Shipilov, Mechanism of Crack Initiation and Propagation in a Stryker Light Armored Vehicle. Several double V-hull (DVH) Stryker combat vehicles (each costs $5.1 million in 2016 dollars) were found to have cracking on the lower right fender. The problem brought into question their ability to withstand explosives and roadside mines. At the request of the U.S. Army, the cause and the mechanism of cracking were determined. Research provided a lifesaving solution allowing the Army to announce contracts to produce 742 Stryker DVH vehicles, as retrofits and as new production vehicles.
S.A. Shipilov, An Experimental Irradiation Assembly for the Performance of In-reactor IASCC Tests under Cyclic Loading. The paper pioneered research on IASCC by developing the first critical experiment for conducting in-core investigations of cracking under cyclic loading and electrochemical control, using a thermosyphon irradiation platform at ORNL. The first-of-its-kind experimental facility allows for the evaluation of dose-dependent susceptibility to cracking and making the residual life assessment of core components of aging water-cooled nuclear reactors.
S.A. Shipilov, Water Infrastructure Corrosion: What Prevents Us from Preventing It? Overall water main break rates in the U.S. and Canada increased by 27% between 2012 and 2018. Break rates of cast iron and asbestos cement pipe, which make up 41% of the installed water mains, have increased by more than 40%. About 25% of drinking water in Ontario is pumped into the ground due to old, leaky pipes and water mains. That’s enough water to serve the population of a province the size of Alberta. In some municipalities, water loss is as high as 35-45%.
Visiting the University
of Science and Technology
Beijing (USTB)
July 12-18, 2018
Shipilov was invited to visit the University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB) and the National Center for Materials Service Safety, China’s largest and newest facility for materials research. During a week-long stay in Beijing, he gave two research seminars “Advances and Challenges in Understanding the Influence of Environments on the Long-Term Stability and Mechanical Integrity of Materials” [abstract] and “Irradiation-Assisted Stress Corrosion Cracking: An Experimental Irradiation Assembly for the Performance of In-Reactor IASCC Tests under Cyclic Loading” [abstract] attended by students and faculty of the School of Materials Science and Engineering and the Corrosion and Protection Center at USTB.
Invited lecture at the
2018 TMS Annual Meeting in
Phoenix, Arizona
March 14, 2018
Shipilov delivered an invited lecture, “From First Discoveries in the Late 1880s to Mechanistic Understanding and Radiation Effects in the Early 2000s: Over 140 Years of SCC Research,” and chaired a Session on Environmentally Assisted Cracking: Theory and Practice at the 2018 TMS Annual Meeting, held March 11-15, 2018, Phoenix, Arizona.
Shipilov appointed an
Adjunct Professor at USTB,
January 18, 2018
Shipilov was appointed an Adjunct Professor at the University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB). The title allows him to teach and perform research at the university, the National Center of Materials Service Safety, and the Corrosion and Protection Center.
Keynote lecture at EUROCORR 2017 and the 20th International Corrosion Congress
September 6, 2017
Shipilov was invited to deliver an Opening Keynote Lecture on Environment Sensitive Fracture at the 2017 European Corrosion Congress (EUROCORR 2017) and the 20th International Corrosion Congress (20ICC), September 3-7, 2017, Prague, Czech Republic. (Note: His lecture, “History of SCC Research: A Record of Progress,” was presented by Dr. Krzysztof Wolski of École des Mines de Saint-Étienne, France.)