As NACE International wrapped up its 73rd annual conference, more than 5,600 attendees from nearly 70 countries had come together at the Phoenix Convention Center (Phoenix, Arizona, USA) and other area venues for CORROSION 2018.
These corrosion professionals from around the globe once again continued the momentum initiated by the 11 founding members in 1943. For five days, the city was home to the largest meeting of corrosion professionals, vendors, and educators that focuses on preventing and mitigating worldwide corrosion.
This year marks NACE International’s 75th Anniversary. In celebration of this milestone, CORROSION 2018 commemorated the association’s achievements as well as the pathways it has forged toward the future of corrosion control. The technical strides made by corrosion professionals over the past 75 years were apparent during hundreds of events—technical symposia, committee meetings, seminars and lectures, training opportunities, and social gatherings—that offered a multitude of cutting-edge technical and educational resources, public awareness activities, and networking opportunities the corrosion industry has come to expect.
Various areas of corrosion control and mitigation were covered by symposia, technical meetings, forums, and student poster sessions: oil and gas corrosion inhibitors, coatings, practical field application of cathodic protection, pipeline integrity, materials, testing and instrumentation, maritime corrosion, water and wastewater corrosion, corrosion in nuclear systems, and more.
The conference’s technical program featured 488 technical papers presented in 39 technical symposia—one of the largest offerings of symposia since 2000. This year, 12 forums highlighted a wide array of topics that included coating asset management; an overview of coatings and related technology systems used or developed by the U.S. Navy for corrosion control; fighting the corrosion war in the Middle East and Africa; corrosion challenges in Latin America; a discussion with the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) on corrosion and pipeline safety; best practices and lessons learned in the water and wastewater industries; and an update on the work done regarding NACE MR0175/ISO 15156.
More than 200 technical and administrative meetings were held throughout the week as NACE members worked on standards and reports, exchanged technical information, and managed association business. Attendees also had the opportunity to visit the largest corrosion exhibition in the world. Many spent time networking with colleagues through a series of social events, including the Opening Reception, the Expo Grand Opening and Composites Pavilion Reception in the Exhibit Hall, the Scholarship Ceremony and GenNEXT Bash, and the Wednesday night Awards Dinner.
For a complete summary, including images from the overall conference and recaps of specific daily events, click here to read the Conference Recap from MP’s July 2018 issue.