Pakistan Chapter of Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP) organized Technical Session in context to Corrosion Awareness Day – 24th April 2024 in collaboration with Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering (IMME), Faculty of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. At this technical session the organizing committee invites the practicing corrosion engineer’s, academic as well as international experts /consultants as a guest speaker to share their experience with the participants and the students.

The session commenced with the recitation of the verses from the Holy Quran by Talha Khan, undergraduate student at IMME. After recitation, Shafqat Ali, AMPP Delegate for Pakistan Chapter highlighted the importance of corrosion awareness and role of the professionals in protecting the infrastructure, environment and the ground water resources. He emphasized the need for conducting local training courses for the technicians and fresh engineers. He also stressed the need to increase the membership of AMPP especially for the students which is free. This was followed by the talk of an invited speaker, Ahmed Asad who is Treasurer of Pakistan Chapter and also the Director Technical of Indegrity. He explained how corrosion is impacting our infrastructures economically and financially. Furthermore, he concluded his talk with a fact that with only 1% of the asset’s construction cost, we put corrosion to sleep for more than 25 years, saving millions in return by delaying a forced shutdown. The next invited speaker was Farooq Yousaf who is Business Development Specialist at Jotun Paints, having extensive experience in coating. He highlighted the importance of coatings to protect the metallic structures from the adverse effects of corrosion. He further added that efficient protection of the structure is possible only if environmental conditions are considered correctly the selection of coating. Dr. Zeeshan Wadood, Associate Professor at Lahore Garrison University discussed the destructive effects of microorganisms on the metallic structures. He discussed a case study on ‘Mechanism of Microbiological Corrosion’ and the way his team is helping companies to detect the micro-organism colonies in soil in which metallic structures are buried.

Dr. Ameeq Farooq, Vice-Chair, Pakistan Chapter and Assistant Professor at the Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, University of the Punjab, Lahore presented the roundup of Pakistan Chapter activities during the last one year. Ameeq also briefed the participants about upcoming activities planned by the chapter and emphasized on the self- training of fresh technicians and engineers. This would make them equipped better in their professional career as an engineer and enable them finding better jobs both locally and overseas. He further thanked to all the participants from the industries as well as the students who participated in this session.

In the closing remarks, Prof. Dr. Mohsin Ali Raza, Director, Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering (IMME), University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan appreciate the efforts of the presenters for taking time to make the session successful and thanked the participants for attending the session. He briefed the participants about the new M.Sc program to be launched by IMME on ‘Corrosion and Surface Engineering’. He stressed that academic and industry to join hands to combat this threat which is active 24/7 of the year. He further appreciated the Pakistan Chapter efforts for conducting an excellent session.

The session was attended by delegates from Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL), Pakistan Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, Laboratories Complex (PCSIR), Velosi Integrity & Safety Pakistan, Inspectest Private Limited, BG Learners, Cormat Group, Curexa Health Private, Iftikhar Foundry and University of the Punjab. The session ends with the votes of thanks and a group photo of the participants of the session.