Dr Liam Ward

Liam is actively engaged in research in collaboration with industry and universities – both in Australia and through international collaboration. As an academic in the School of Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering he is actively engaged in undergraduate teaching and postgraduate research in materials/metallurgical engineering.

Research interests are strongly focused on corrosion and corrosion control, materials durability, surface engineering and wear. The research is very much applied in conjunction with industry and as such strong collaborative links were formed more recently with Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and previously with Defence, Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), in addition to various companies. Examples of current and recent corrosion related projects are provided at the end of this section.

Previous research interests focused on surface engineering, particularly thin hard metal coatings for improved corrosion and wear behaviour, areas which Liam has been very active in for many years and developed a strong reputation in. In particular, surface modifications through the use of MEVVA ion implantation for improved corrosion and wear resistance has been an area of research Liam established through receiving 9 successful Australian Institute Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE) Awards between 2000 and 2010, to use MEVVA implantation facilities at ANSTO, Lucas Heights, NSW, which led to a RMIT research award for my contributions to this area of research in 2007.

International collaboration was between RMIT and two overseas institutes, namely the Institute of Surface and Thin Film Technology, Hochschule Wismar, Germany and Foshan University, China which resulted in establishment of an exchange post graduate program, involving a Masters student from Hochschule Wismar and a visiting Professor within our School for 6.

Liam has, and still, manages a diverse range of research activities via Ph.D / Masters Students and final year undergraduate projects each year, in addition to undertaking self-directed research in these areas. Selections of current and previous research projects are detailed below:

• Microbial influenced corrosion of underground carbon steel pipes (CSIRO collaboration)
• Development of alternative “green” corrosion inhibitor compounds
• Corrosion studies (Sensitisation, IGC) of welded duplex stainless steels for use in the oil and gas industry (ANSTO collaboration). 
• Characterisation, corrosion and wear behaviour of HVOF tungsten carbide based coatings for mining, chemical and aerospace applications (ANSTO and DSTO collaboration). 
• Corrosion behaviour of 9 carat gold jewellery alloys
• Pitting corrosion and anodising of Al alloys for aerospace applications (DSTO collaboration). 
• Sulphate attack of cementitious materials
• Corrosion and wear of oxy-nitride physical vapour deposition (PVD) coatings (STC and Applied Physics, RMIT Collaboration)
• Tribological and corrosion properties of steam oxide coatings (STC and Applied Physics, RMIT Collaboration)
• Friction and wear of functionally graded PVD coatings (STC and Applied Physics, RMIT Collaboration)
• MEVVA ion implantation of hard ceramic coatings and stainless steels for applications requiring improved corrosion and wear resistance (ANSTO collaboration)
• Corrosion and wear behaviour of diamond like carbon (DLC) coatings (Hochschule Wismar Collaboration)
• Development of Ni-Cr based nano-crystalline coatings for high temperature, corrosion resistant and wear resistant applications (ANSTO and DSTO collaboration)

Future research areas for development include corrosion and corrosion inhibition of stainless steels in the food industry and desalination plants; erosion, erosion corrosion and wear in mineral processing systems, slurries, etc; surface modification and bacterial growth on polymeric surfaces; characterisation of nano-composite bio-materials.

Liam, as an academic within the B. Eng Chemical Engineering Program within the School of Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, has developed, coordinated and taught a wide variety of course at all undergraduate year levels, to include development of learning and teaching strategies, as well as undertaking various discipline focused administrative duties, which are detailed below:

Learning and teaching initiatives to project based learning (PBL) courses

Liam has been a key figure in the design, development and implementation of PBL courses into the Chemical Engineering Program at all year levels and the continual development of innovative approaches within the PBL courses he has coordinated and delivered. Learning and teaching strategies and initiatives taken to provide a more student centred learning approach include:

• Use of interactive tutorials and lectorial style classes
• Utilisation of classrooms which hosted round tables, designed for groups of between six and eight people per table, in order to actively engage students
• Design of open ended projects for all year levels
• Use of wiki sites to facilitate the group work and group learning experience
• Introduction of the “Engineers without Borders” (EWB) projects into first year Chemical Engineering courses since 2007

These strategies have been implemented within a number of PBL Chemical Engineering core courses at all year levels since 2005. As a consequence of his commitment to learning and teaching initiatives Liam has received two RMIT awards for learning and teaching in 2008 and 2011.

Summary of Learning and Teaching Activities

B. Eng Chemical Engineering Program. Development, coordination and delivery of a number of courses within this Program, ranging from first year to final year level (2001 – Present)

B. Eng Metallurgical Engineering Program. Development, coordination and delivery of a number of courses within this Program, ranging from first year to final year level (1996 - 2001)

B. Eng Civil and Infrastructural Engineering Program. Development and delivery of tutorials for various PBL courses within this Program (2006 – Present)

Engineering Materials Service Provision. Development, coordination and delivery of a wide variety of Engineering Materials courses as a service provision to a range of Engineering disciplines (1996 - 2005), which included Aerospace Engineering, Communication Engineering, Computer System Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Mechanical Engineering. Initiatives developed included:

• Development of flexible learning modules
• Development of a database question bank 
• Class interaction using materials selection / failures concepts
• Development of a learning package

Commercial Courses. Development, coordination and delivery of materials based modules for a commercial course delivered to the army helicopter division as part of a commercial contract between the Australian Army and the Sir Lawrence Wackett Institute

External Courses. Development and delivery of a series of external lectures surface engineering and wear as part of to third year Materials Engineering students at Monash University

Onshore and International Selection Officer for the Chemical Engineering Program and selected double degree Programs (Chemical Engineering / Business Management) (2005 – Present)

First Year Coordinator for the Chemical Engineering Program (2004 – present)

International Coordinator for the Chemical Engineering Program (2009 – present)

Liam, as an academic within the B. Eng Chemical Engineering Program within the School of Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, has developed, coordinated and taught a wide variety of course at all undergraduate year levels, to include development of learning and teaching strategies, as well as undertaking various discipline focused administrative duties, which are detailed below:

Learning and teaching initiatives to project based learning (PBL) courses

Liam has been a key figure in the design, development and implementation of PBL courses into the Chemical Engineering Program at all year levels and the continual development of innovative approaches within the PBL courses he has coordinated and delivered. Learning and teaching strategies and initiatives taken to provide a more student centred learning approach include:

• Use of interactive tutorials and lectorial style classes
• Utilisation of classrooms which hosted round tables, designed for groups of between six and eight people per table, in order to actively engage students
• Design of open ended projects for all year levels
• Use of wiki sites to facilitate the group work and group learning experience
• Introduction of the “Engineers without Borders” (EWB) projects into first year Chemical Engineering courses since 2007

These strategies have been implemented within a number of PBL Chemical Engineering core courses at all year levels since 2005. As a consequence of his commitment to learning and teaching initiatives Liam has received two RMIT awards for learning and teaching in 2008 and 2011.

Summary of Learning and Teaching Activities

B. Eng Chemical Engineering Program. Development, coordination and delivery of a number of courses within this Program, ranging from first year to final year level (2001 – Present)

B. Eng Metallurgical Engineering Program. Development, coordination and delivery of a number of courses within this Program, ranging from first year to final year level (1996 - 2001)

B. Eng Civil and Infrastructural Engineering Program. Development and delivery of tutorials for various PBL courses within this Program (2006 – Present)

Engineering Materials Service Provision. Development, coordination and delivery of a wide variety of Engineering Materials courses as a service provision to a range of Engineering disciplines (1996 - 2005), which included Aerospace Engineering, Communication Engineering, Computer System Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Mechanical Engineering. Initiatives developed included:

• Development of flexible learning modules
• Development of a database question bank 
• Class interaction using materials selection / failures concepts
• Development of a learning package

Commercial Courses. Development, coordination and delivery of materials based modules for a commercial course delivered to the army helicopter division as part of a commercial contract between the Australian Army and the Sir Lawrence Wackett Institute

External Courses. Development and delivery of a series of external lectures surface engineering and wear as part of to third year Materials Engineering students at Monash University

Onshore and International Selection Officer for the Chemical Engineering Program and selected double degree Programs (Chemical Engineering / Business Management) (2005 – Present)

First Year Coordinator for the Chemical Engineering Program (2004 – present)

International Coordinator for the Chemical Engineering Program (2009 – present)

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D), University of Northumbria at Newcastle, UK, 1991
• Bachelor of Science (honours); B.Sc. Chemical Physics, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK, 1982

Employment Details

• 1999 – Present: Lecturer, Chemical Engineering, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
• 1996 – 1998: Lecturer, Metallurgical Engineering, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
• 1992 – 1996: Research Fellow, Ian Wark Research Institute, University of South Australia
• 1990 – 1991: Research Fellow, University of Northumbria at Newcastle, UK
• 1986 – 1989: Research Assistant, University of Northumbria at Newcastle, UK

External Consulting Activities

Liam has been active in the areas of corrosion and failure analysis for external bodies. Examples of consultancies conducted are detailed below:

• Analysis of Acrylic Render (DC and LE Ellison Enterprises)
• Report on failed heat exchanger (Australian Automotive Air Pty Ltd)
• Corrosion of bullets when exposed to conditions at the bottom of the Yarra river (Office of Public Prosecution)
• Accelerated corrosion tests on bullets (Office of Public Prosecution)
• Analysis of corroded vent pipe (Resolve Facilities Management)
• Mechanical and chemical testing of newly developed epoxy resin (Ciba Specialty Chemicals Pty Ltd)
• Analysis of failed bearings (Gasons Pty Ltd)
• Analysis of corroded signs (Royal Botanic Gardens)
• Analysis of corrosion products on failed power transmission line (Corrs Chambers Westgarth Lawyers)
• Corrosion of moving electrode starters for large slip - ring motors (NHP Electrical Engineering products Pty Ltd)
• Observations and possible causes of damage of extrusion screw (Corex Plastics (Aust) Pty Ltd)

Collabaration Initiatives

• CSIRO, Melbourne. Collaboration was established with CSIRO in 2013 through a PH.D Program and CSIRO providing a top-up scholarship to study fundamental behaviour of MIC for pipelines buried in soil. This has involved the development of a novel test system to study MIC using agar gel 
• Surface Technology Coatings Pty. Melbourne and Applied Physics, RMIT. Collaboration was developed in 2011 as part of research investigations into characterisation, corrosion and wear behaviour of multi-component refractory element nitride / oxy-nitride coatings and steam oxide treatments
• Applied Chemistry, RMIT. Collaboration was established in 2009 as part of research investigations into corrosion behaviour of gold alloys and sensitisation studies of duplex stainless steel welds
• Foshan University, China. Collaboration was initiated and established Foshan University, China in 2009. Here, a visiting Professor s worked on corrosion of gold jewelry for 6 months
• Hochschule Wismar, Germany. Collaboration was initiated and established with the Institute of Surface and Thin Film Technology, Hochschule Wismar in 2008. Characterisation and development of DLC coatings were identified as research areas of common interest
• DSTO. Melbourne. Collaboration was established with DSTO in 2004. Research programs were established in the areas of corrosion and corrosion control in the aerospace industry, particularly development of WC based coatings as alternatives to hard chrome, pitting prediction and modelling of Al alloys and anodizing of Al alloys
• ANSTO, NSW. Collaboration was established with ANSTO, through successful AINSE Awards for a ten year period commencing in 2000. Research programs in the use of MEVVA ion implantation technology for enhanced corrosion and wear resistance were well established