Being on to corrosion

With the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation's research fellowship for postdoctoral researchers, Dr Mohamed El Amine Ben Seghier has been at the Helmholtz Centre Hereon since the beginning of October. Humboldt fellows choose their own scientific hosts - Ben Seghier selected the Hereon Institute for Surface Research and is now working in the Interfacial Modelling Department. "Hereon is a leading institution in the field of metal corrosion in structures made out of steel or lightweight materials, so it is a perfect fit to conduct my project," he explains.

Dr Mohamed El Amine Ben Seghier. Photo: Hereon/ Steffen Niemann

Ben Seghier received his PhD from the University M'hamed Bougara of Boumerdes in Algeria and has since worked at various universities in Vietnam and Portugal. He has specialised in deterioration modeling, particularly corrosion in steel structures, as well as the safety of infrastructures in various environments.
His innovative project, PredAltor, combines artificial intelligence with with real-world experimental data. This is used to model the formation and development of corrosion on maritime structures, especially offshore wind farms used to generate renewable energy on the open sea. The project intends to propose improved maintenance plans for such structures to avoid corrosion failures through cost-effective repairing actions.

Ben Seghier's work ties in with several existing projects at the centre. For example, Hereon researchers in the MarinAL project are working on the possible uses of aluminium for marine structures, in the TAIFUN project with a maintenance system that is based on artificial intelligence or in the LORCENIS project on the development of durable steel-reinforced concrete under extreme outdoor conditions.