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AMSEN: African Materials Science and Engineering Network
About AMSEN Leaders and their Institutions
Blog Entries about AMSEN Updates on Network Activities, Publications and Conferences May 2013: Prof Cornish presented an overview of the Pt-based Superalloy work at the “Beyond Nickel-based Superalloys” Conference in Bad Barnek, Germany in May, and she was also part of the committee. This work included Bernard Odera’s research. Two AMSEN students have now had their corrections accepted, and should graduate in June 2013: Isaac Popoola and Bernard Odera. Ayodeji Apata, Odilon Ilunga and Adenike Olaesinde are still working on their corrections, and will graduate later in the year. April 2013: AMSEN student Liberty Chipise graduated with a MPhil degree in Engineering from the University of Botswana on April 4. Mr. Aramide (the last of the first set of AMSEN students at FUTA ) recently gave a progress seminar on his PhD work, and a panel of examiners is being set up for consideration by the University Senate through the Board of Postgraduate School. The FUTA Node met recently to consider new students. It is a bit quiet here (at Wits) currently. Waiting for the examiners’ reports of the old students and waiting for new students to arrive. March 2013: PK Jain. "Scientific Research in Southern Africa: Status, Achievements, Impediments, and Way Forward" at the 6th International Conference on the Frontiers of Plasma Physics and Technology, 4-8 March 2013, GICC, Gaborone, Botswana. Daily News article on the conference here. February 2013: I.O. Oladele and F.O. Folorunso were awarded their PhD degrees by the Senate of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria on the 27th February 2012, after successfully defending their PhD theses in December 2012 before a Senate constituted Panels of Examiners. The PhDs will be formally conferred at the next convocation ceremonies in November 2013. Two new students are due to start at Wits in April: Bernard Odera was a member of the 27th International Seminar on Multicomponent Heterogeneous Equilibria: Workshop instigated by Materials Science International Services GmbH, Stuttgart and the Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung, Stuttgart, for the critical evaluation of ternary phase diagram data and related data. 10th-16th February 2013, held at Schloss Ringberg, Tegernsee, Germany. Kenneth Njoroge spend a week at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University studying his TEM samples, and Prof. Mike Witcomb also went down to help him for 3 days. January 2013: Mr O.J. Dada presented his work at the International Institute of Welding Regional Conference, Congress Proceedings, Johannesburg, South Africa, 7th – 8th November 2012. Three AMSEN students presented their work at the Microscopy Society of Southern Africa Conference, Volume 42, p. 94, Cape Town, 4th – 7th December: Mr Odilon Ilunga has submitted his MSc. On January 22nd, John Mwero successfully defended his PhD at the University of Nairobi. December 2012: K.K. Alaneme and A.O.Aluko. Production and age-hardening behaviour of borax pre-mixed reinforced Al-Mg-Si alloy composites developed by double stir casting technique. The West Indian Journal of Engineering, vol.34, no. 1/2, pp. 80-85, 2012. K.K. Alaneme and A.O. Aluko. Fracture toughness (KIC) and tensile properties as-cast and age-hardened aluminium(6063) – silicon carbide particulate composites. Scientia Iranica Transactions: A Civil Engineering (Elsevier), doi:10.1016/j.scient.2012.06.001. 2012. K.K. Alaneme. Influence of thermo- mechanical treatment on the tensile behaviour and CNT evaluated fracture toughness of borax premix silicon carbide reinforced aluminium (6063) matrix composites. International Journal of Materials and Mechanical Engineering, vol.7, no.1, pp.96-100, 2012. D.O. Folorunso, S. Aribo, P.A. Olubambi and J.O. Borode, Hydrometallurgical purification of some clay deposits for high temperature applications, Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering, 12 (5) (2012) 461-469. C.O. Ayieko, R.J. Musembi, S.M. Waita, B.O. Aduda and P.K. Jain. Structural and optical characterisation of nitrogen doped TiO2 thin films deposited by spay pyrolysis on fluorine doped tin oxide glass. International Journal of Energy Engineering, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 67-72. DOI:10.5923/j.ijee.20120203.02. 2012. PhD students Mr Apata Ayodeja, Mr Bernard Odera, Ms Adenike Olaseinde & Mr Isaac Popoola have all submitted their PhD theses. MSc student Mr Oluwaseun Dada has submitted his dissertation (after only one year of study). He will continue with his studies at the University of Witwatersrand in 2013 when he starts his PhD. November 2012: D.O. Folorunso (FUTA) and I.O. Oladele (FUTA) are in the final stages of writing their theses, and the University Senate has constituted a panel of examiners for the oral defence of their PhD theses. F.O. Aramide (FUTA) has been visiting South Africa for the concluding aspect of his PhD research work. Two FUTA AMSEN Supervisors have gained promotion: Dr. J.A. Omotoyinbo to Reader, and Dr. K.K. Alaneme to Senior Lecturer. FUTA AMSEN Supervisors and Students participated in a one day event to celebrate the AUST/RISE Partnership at AUST, Abuja, Nigeria, 8th August 2012. A.I. Popoola (Wits) has submitted his PhD thesis. Silas Hango (UNAM, at Wits) won a Corrosion prize for his poster at the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering Poster Day on 8th November. He also passed his corrosion course. B.O. Odera (Wits) and O.A. Olaseinde (Wits) presented their work at the Advanced Metals Conference, Magaliesburg, 15th – 17th October 2012. O.J. Dada (FUTA, at Wits) was a Chairman at the Wits Cross-Faculty Symposium, 22nd October 2012. October 2012: B.O. Odera and L.A. Cornish, Electrolytic etching of platinum-aluminium based alloys, Platinum Metals Review, 56 (4) (Oct 2012) 257-261. September 2012: Oluwaseun John Dada (FUTA, at Wits) presented his work at the IASSA Conference, Johannesburg, 17th – 18th September 2012. He also made a short presentation of his work for an American Airforce delegation on 21st September. Prof Cornish made two presentations to the same delegation on 21st and 26th September 2012. An extended abstract from Odilon Ilunga’s MSc work was submitted to the Microscopy Society of Southern Africa (MSSA) Conference, to be held in Cape Town in December 2012. Liberty Chipise (University of Botswana) visited Wits, and the journal paper from the phase diagram part of his MPhil is nearly finalised. Stephan Coetzee has been working on the paper from his MPhil, on the Nickel-Ruthenium-Yttrium system, together with Profs. Cornish, Witcomb and Jain, and the champagne has been ordered for when this paper can finally be submitted. (It should be soon!) Bernard Odera presented a paper at the South African Institute of Ming and Metallurgy (SAIMM) Platinum Conference on 18th – 20th September 2012, which was held at Sun City. Meanwhile for the students finishing off their PhD at Wits, they are all writing up and hope to submit by the end of the year. Most are at least on the second or third drafts. August 2012: S H Coetzee, L A Cornish, M J Witcomb and P K Jain (Jul 2012). Derivation of the liquidud surface of the Ni-Ru-V system using SEM and EDX. Microscopy Society of America, Micrioscopy & Microanalysis 2012, Phoenix, Arizona, USA. Silas Hango (University of Namibia, at Wits) and Oluwasen John Dada are preparing their extended abstracts for the Microscopy Society of Southern Africa (MSSA) Conference, to be held in Cape Town in December 2012. Oluwaseun John Dada (FUTA, at Wits) has also had a paper accepted for the IASSA Conferences 2012, and has submitted an abstract to the South Africa Institute of Welding /WII Conference 2012. Odilon Ilunga visited Wits for three days to work on his draft MSc, and it is hoped that an extended abstract will be submitted to MSSA. Liberty Chipise (University of Botswana) will be visiting Wits soon, to undertake further work on the journal paper from the phase diagram part of his work. Bernard Odera’s paper to Platinum Metals Review has now been accepted, and he has submitted the first draft of his PhD thesis. July 2012: Research Africa Gets & Publishes First Leter to the Editor. Jul 2012. O.A. Olasupo and J.O. Borode. Investigation of thermo- mechanical and refractory properties of aluminium – silicate ramming mass across rotary furnace lining. Refractories and Industrial Ceramics, no.4, p.46, Jul 2012. B.O. Odera, L.A. Cornish, M.B. Shongwe, G.O. Rading and J.M. Papo, As-Cast and Heat Treated Alloys of the Pt-Al-V System at the Pt-Rich Corner, J. South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 7A (July 2012) 505-515. O.A. Olaseinde, J.W. van der Merwe, L.A. Cornish and P.A. Olubambi, Electrochemical studies of Fe-21Cr-1Ni duplex stainless steels with 0.15wt% ruthenium at different temperatures, J. South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 7A (July 2012) 535-538. Kenneth Njoroge (University of Nairobi) has had two papers published: K.D. Njoroge, S.M. Mutuli and J.M. Kihiu, An intrinsic dislocation density – finite formulation of metal plasticity, International Journal of Computational Engineering Research, 2 (3), 843-850 (May-June 2012). K.D. Njoroge, G.O. Rading, J.M. Kihiu, M.J. Witcomb and L.A. Cornish, Dynamic analysis of dislocation cores in the α-Fe lattice using the embedded atom method, International Journal of Computational Engineering Research, 2 (3), 851-859 (May-June 2012). ISSN: 2250-3005. Silas Hango (University of Namibia) attended a week long corrosion course provided by the Corrosion Institute of South Africa (CorrISA). Liberty Chipise (University of Botswana) submitted his M.PhIl. on 3rd July. He is currently writing a journal paper from the phase diagram part of his work. Stephan Coetzee (University of Botswana) prepared a poster for the Microscopy & Microanalysis 2012 Conference, in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, 29th July – 2nd August 2012. He visited Profs Cornish and Witcomb at Wits for two days, to discuss the poster and his next samples. Unfortunately, illness has prevented him from attending the conference, but his poster will be presented by Prof. Witcomb. Bernard Odera (Wits) and Adenike Olaseinde have submitted their full papers to the Advanced Metals Conference, Magaliesburg, South Africa, which will be held in October. Bernard Odera also sent a paper to Platinum Metals Review, and is now making the changes recommended by the reviewers. June 2012: D.O. Folorunso, P.A.Olubambi and J.O. Borode, Effects of alumina cement on the refractory properties of leached Ipetumodu clay, Leonardo Electronic Journal of Practices and Technologies, 20 (Jan-Jun 2012) 25-38. Prof. George Rading attended and presented at the IFS/AAS Conference on “Getting and Using Equipment for Scientific Research in Africa”, and compiled a very interesting report, including (non-RISE) experiences on how the necessary services for equipments should be checked before it is ordered! Bernard Odera was awarded 1st place for his poster at the recent DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Strong Materials Annual Student Workshop. Members of the Board, the Executive and senior members from the NRF and DST attended. Adenike Olaseinde has written the draft of much of her thesis. Liberty Chipise has completed his MPhil dissertation, and shall be submitting it for examination by the end of this June. Cosmas Muiva is writing up his PhD thesis. The University of Nairobi has ordered a Low Speed Diamond Wheel Saw to help with their research work. May 2012: K.D. Njoroge, S.M. Mutuli and J.M. Kihiu, An intrinsic dislocation density – finite formulation of metal plasticity, International Journal of Computational Engineering Research, 2 (3), 843-850 (May-June 2012). K.D. Njoroge, G.O. Rading, J.M. Kihiu, M.J. Witcomb and L.A. Cornish, Dynamic analysis of dislocation cores in the α-Fe lattice using the embedded atom method, International Journal of Computational Engineering Research, 2 (3), 851-859 (May-June 2012). P.K. Jain. Materials Research at the University of Botswana: Phases in Ni based ternary alloys. 29th May 2012. Department of Physics, University of Connecticut, Storrs. CT, USA. L.A. Cornish. DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Strong Materials and University of the Witwatersrand. Presentation for the Joint Workshop of the NRF-RFBR (Russian Foundation for Basic Research).14th May 2012, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. P.K. Jain, P. Jain, P. Dhafana. Combating energy poverty in Africa: Addressing barriers to off-grid rural electrification, (The Botswana and Namibia Experience). World Renewable Energy Forum (WREF 2012), 13th-17th May 2012, Denver, CO, USA. Electronic proceedings: Paper No: 0955 (7pp). L.A. Cornish. Putting it all together: Different approaches to developing Pt-based superalloys. Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards. 7th May 2012, NMISA, Pretoria. There are two papers in press (see published papers above): B.O. Odera, L.A. Cornish, M.B. Shongwe, G.O. Rading and J.M. Papo, As-Cast and Heat Treated Alloys of the Pt-Al-V System at the Pt-Rich Corner, Journal of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. O.A. Olaseinde, J.W. van der Merwe, L.A. Cornish and P.A. Olubambi, Electrochemical studies of Fe-21Cr-1Ni duplex stainless steels with 0.15wt% ruthenium at different temperatures, Journal of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Journal. K.D. Njoroge is about to submit his second journal paper. Oluwaseun John Dada will be travelling to Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth soon to learn more about friction stir welding. He has already written up and submitted a draft literature review. All AMSEN students at Wits will participate in the CoE-SM Student Workshop by presenting posters. An application was made to EU-Africa for mobility funds by Wits, U. Botswana, U. Nairobi and FUTA. UNAM did not participate. Isaac Popoola has submitted a draft PhD thesis, although there are some parts of his work that he has yet to complete. April 2012: A very succesful 2nd AMSEN Workshop was held at Nairobi, Kenya from 20th – 23rd March 2012, and the AMSEN students all gave presentations, which were of a much higher standard than in 2010. There were prizes awarded for the best student presentations: Mr. Stephan Coetzee, University of Botswana (1st Prize), Mr. Peter Weramwenja (2nd Prize) and Mr. Oluwaseun Dada (3rd prize). There were meetings for all AMSEN members, students as well as the different Research Teams. The informal agenda included a visit to Nairobi National Park, where a magnificent male lion was seen, as well as with warthog, baboons, impala, buffalo, Thompson’s gazelle, Grant’s gazelle, zebra, bohor reedbuck, eland and kongoni. The workshop ended on a high with a party! Eliakim N. Akhusama successfully defended his MSc thesis at the University of Nairobi in April 2012, and will be awarded his degree shortly. In the mean time, he is working on the concept proposal for his PhD. He should get provisional admission into the PhD program within one month. Eliakim N. Akhusama. Microstructural evolution and fatigue crack growth characteristics through the HAZ of welded AA 6061. MSc thesis, University of Nairobi. 2012. John Mwero, also of the University of Nairobi, earlier submitted a draft of his PhD thesis. Odilon Ilunga submitted a draft of his MSc dissertation, which was returned to him in Namibia in early April, where he met with Profs. Cornish and Kavishe, his supervisors. Profs. Cornish and Kavishe, together with Mr Silas Hango (PhD student) visited Otjihase Mine, near Windhoek, Namibia to obtain information for his PhD project. This is a new project, and it is also co-supervised by Dr L. Chown (Wits). Mr. Odera (PhD student) has a draft paper on for the successful etching of the platinum-based alloys. The technique has helped resolved the microstructures of these alloys. Mr. Liberty Chipise is in the final stages of completing his MPhil dissertation. March 2012: Prof. Rading will be attending a conference at the African Academy of Sciences in Nairobi this May, held by the PRISM project which assists with the Procurement, Installation, Service, Maintenance and Use of Scientific Equipment. The AMSEN Workshop will be held in Nairobi, Kenya from 21st – 23rd March. All students have either submitted papers, or are finishing their papers, which will be compiled into a Proceedings. The Node co-ordinators will also submitted reports on activities in their Nodes. Student workshops will be held and students will also be presenting their papers. (Invited speaker Wole Soboyejo's presentation here.) Universitiy of Nairobi: AMSEN Conference. March 2012. P K Jain. University of Botswana Node of AMSEN: Progress report: January 2010 to March 2012. 2nd AMSEN Workshop, 21- 23 March, 2012, Nairobi, Kenya. S H Coetzee, P K Jain, L A Cornish and M J Witcomb. Phases in as cast Ni-Ru-V alloys. 2nd AMSEN Workshop, 21- 23 March, 2012, Nairobi, Kenya. L Chipise, P K Jain, L A Cornish and R N Batane. Phases and hardness of as cast N-Ru-Zr alloys. 2nd AMSEN Workshop, 21- 23 March, 2012, Nairobi, Kenya. C O Ayieko, R J Musembi, S M waits, B O aduda, P K Jain. Structural and optical characterization of nitrogen doped TiO2 thin films deposited by spray pyrolysis on fluorine doped tin oxide coated glass slides. 2nd AMSEN Workshop, 21- 23 March, 2012, Nairobi, Kenya. A O apata, L A Cornish, M J Witcomb and P K Jain. Development of nickel based vanadium carbide for abraison resistant alloys. 2nd AMSEN Workshop, 21- 23 March, 2012, Nairobi, Kenya. C M Muiva, T S Sathiaraj and J M Mwabora. Chemical bond approach to crystallization kinetics and thermal stability in some Se90-xIn10Sbx chalcogenide glassy alloys. 2nd AMSEN Workshop, 21- 23 March, 2012, Nairobi, Kenya. Mr Silas Hango (PhD UNAM student at Wits), and a new student for 2012, has contacted a mine in Namibia that he will visit and this will give a real application for his work. E.N. Akhusama, G.O. Rading and F.P.L. Kavishe. A critical analysis of the heat affected zone: The case of AA 6061. 21st -23rd March 2012; 2nd AMSEN Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya. C.O. Ayieko, R.J. Musembi, S.M. Waita, B.O. Aduda, P.K. Jain. Structural and optical characterisation of nitrogen doped TiO2 thin films deposited by spay pyrolysis on fluorine doped tin oxide glass. 21st -23rd March 2012; 2nd AMSEN Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya. P.M. Weramwanja, J.K. Musuva, and J.O. Borode. Potential and Improvement of Kenyan Bentonite applications in geothermal and oil wells drilling industry. 21st -23rd March 2012; 2nd AMSEN Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya. J.N. Mwero, S.O. Abuodha, S.W. Mumenya, G.O. Rading and F.P.L Kavishe. Heat of hydration and chemical shrinkage characteristics of sugarcane waste fibre ash blended with cement. 21st -23rd March 2012; 2nd AMSEN Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya. K.D. Njoroge, G.O. Rading, J.M. Kihiu, M.J. Witcomb and L.A. Cornish. The path of least resistance – a new visualisation of the mechanism of the Peierls stress. 21st -23rd March 2012; 2nd AMSEN Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya. C.M. Muiva, T.S. Sathiaraj and J.M. Mwabora. Chemical bond approach to crystallisation kinetics and thermal stability in some Se90-xIn10Sbx chalcogenide glassy alloys. 21st -23rd March 2012; 2nd AMSEN Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya. S.H. Coetzee, L.A. Cornish, M.J. Witcomb and P.K. Jain. Phases in as-cast Ni-Ru-V alloys. 21st -23rd March 2012; 2nd AMSEN Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya. L. Chipise, P.K. Jain, N.R. Batane, L.A. Cornish and S.H. Coetzee. Phases and hardness in as-cast Ni-Ru-Zr alloys. 21st -23rd March 2012; 2nd AMSEN Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya. I.O. Oladele, J.A. Omotoyinbo, B.O. Adewuyi, J.O.T. Adewara, F.P.L. Kavishe and E.J. Morris. The effect of soil retting and chemical treatment on the mechanical properties of sisal reinforced polypropylene composites. 21st -23rd March 2012; 2nd AMSEN Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya. D.O. Folorunso, J.O. Borode, J.O.T. Adewara and I. Sigalas. Evaluation of some refractory properties of processed clay. 21st -23rd March 2012; 2nd AMSEN Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya. F.O. Aramide, J.O. Borode, P.A. Olubambi, K.K. Alaneme and I. Sigalas. Characterisation and purification of some Nigerian clays for electroceramic applications. 21st -23rd March 2012; 2nd AMSEN Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya. B.O. Odera, L.A. Cornish, M.J. Papo and G.O. Rading. Liquidus surface projection of Pt-Al-V at the Pt-rich corner. 21st -23rd March 2012; 2nd AMSEN Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya. I. Popoola, J.E. Lowther, L.A. Cornish and L.H. Chown. Density Functional Theory (DFT) study of selected platinum phases. 21st -23rd March 2012; 2nd AMSEN Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya. A. Olasiende, L.A. Cornish, J.W. van der Merwe and P.A. Olubambi. Corrosion behaviour of 2101 Duplex Stainless Steel cathodically modified with ruthenium in acidic solution. 21st -23rd March 2012; 2nd AMSEN Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya. O. Dada, C. Polese, L.A. Cornish and J.O. Borode. Characterisation of innovative friction stir welding joints of air- frame aluminium alloys (PhD proposal). 21st -23rd March 2012; 2nd AMSEN Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya. S. Hango, L.A. Cornish, L.H. Chown and S. Shrivastava. Coatings on steels (PhD proposal). 21st -23rd March 2012; 2nd AMSEN Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya. A.O. Apata, L. A. Cornish, M.J. Witcomb, G.O. Rading and P.K. Jain. Development of nickel based vanadium carbide for abrasion resistant alloys. 21st -23rd March 2012; 2nd AMSEN Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya. AMSEN: University of Botswana Node. March 2012. Mr Oluwaseun Dada, a new student, was the first to finalise his abstract for the AMSEN students at Wits. This is an excellent start! Prof Cornish’s presentations at the Women in Engineering Symposium, “Leadership, Innovation and Sustainability” held at Sandton Johannesburg, South Africa on 27-28 February, 2012 were so successful that she has been asked to repeat them in May 2012. February 2012: G.O. Rading. AMSEN-RISE at the UoN: Achievements, Challenges and Way Forward. AIEA annual conference, 20 - 22nd February, 2012, Washington, DC. Handout here. L. Cornish. Development of the DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Strong Materials. Werkstoffe (Metals and Alloys), Bayreuth University, Germany. 13 February 2012. The 2nd AMSEN Workshop will be held in Nairobi, Kenya from 21st – 23rd March 2012. This Workshop is being organised by Prof. Rading and the University of Nairobi Node. All registered students will present their research and Prof. Rading has arranged some teambuilding and social events. We all look forward to the Workshop. The event will also be attended by the supervisors, and we will have meetings of the research groups, as well as a Node-co-ordinators’ meeting and a general meeting. Mr Silas Hango (PhD UNAM student at Wits), Mr Oluwaseun Dada (MSc FUTA student at Wits) & Ms Naomi Shifeta (MSc UNAM) started their postgraduate degrees this year. Mr Isaac Popoola attended the Condensed Matter and Materials Physics Conference in December in the United Kingdom Mr Bernard Odera has just returned from the 26th International Seminar on Multicomponent Heterogeneous Equilibria: Workshop instigated by Materials Science International Services GmbH, Stuttgart and the Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung, Stuttgart, for the critical evaluation of ternary phase diagram data and related data. 5th-11th February 2012, Schloss Ringberg, Tegernsee, Germany. He also visited Bayreuth University, where both he and Prof Cornish gave presentations. Prof Cornish has been invited to give a keynote presentation at the Women in Engineering Symposium, “Leadership, Innovation and Sustainability” to be held at Sandton Johannesburg, South Africa on 27-28 February, 2012. L.A. Cornish. How things have changed: Women in Science and Engineering; also presented key note address on Women in Engineering; sustainable engineering development in Africa- women in strong materials. Women in Engineering Symposium. 27th-28th February and 15th-16th May 2012, Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa. Stephan Coetzee, together with his supervisors, has submitted a paper to Microscopy & Microanalysis 2012, Phoenix, Arizona, USA, 29th July – 2nd August 2012. January 2012: Cosmas Muiva, T.Stephen Sathiaraj, and Kelebogile Maabong. “Chemical Spray Pyrolysis Path to Synthesis of ZnO Microsausages from Aggregation of Elongated Double Tipped Nanoparticles” Materials Science Forum 706-709, (2012) 2577-2582. (Jan 2012) B. Odera. Addition of vanadium and niobium to Pt-based alloys. Werkstoffe (Metals and Alloys), Bayreuth University, Germany. 13 January 2012. December 2011: D.O. Folorunso, F.O. Aramide, S. Aribo and J.O. Borode. Adaptation of Igbara-Odo potter’s clay as a suitable core mix. FUTA Journal of Engineering and Engineering Technology, 2011. C.O. Ayieko, R.J. Musembi, S.M. Waita B.O. Aduda and P.K. Jain. Structural and optical characterisation of nitrogen doped TiO2 thin films deposited by spay pyrolysis on fluorine doped tin oxide glass, International Journal of Energy Engineering, vol. 2, no. 3, (2011) pp. 67-72. DOI:10.5923/j.ijee.20120203.02. C.O. Ayieko, “Effect of nitation of TiO2 thin film on the efficiency of TiO2/ In(OH)xSy /Pb(OH)xSy nano composite solar cell.” MSc degree Dissertation, University of Nairobi (December 2011). Prof. P.K. Jain (Co-supervisor, UB). J.M. Kihiu (Professor, UoN), G. O. Rading (Professor, UoN) and Prof. S. M. Mutuli (Faculty, UoN) published a book on design stresses in pressure vessels with cross bores in 2011. Adenike Olaseinde presented at the International Corrosion Conference at Perth, Australia, 20th – 24th November 2011, and her paper is on the cd. Josias van der Merwe and Lesley Cornish also presented other work. It was a wonderful conference. O.A. Olaseinde, J.W. van der Merwe, L.A. Cornish and P.A. Olubambi. Comparison of Electrochemical Behaviour of 0.15wt% Ruthenium Addition to 2101 DSS with 2101 DSS and 316 Austenitic SS in Acidic with and without Chloride Media. International Corrosion Conference at Perth, Australia, 20th – 24th November 2011. AMSEN students presented at three conferences in December: Microscopy Society of Southern Africa Conference, Pretoria, South Africa, 5th – 9th December 2011: Adenike Olaseinde, Stephan Coetzee, Liberty Chipise and Ayodeja Apata. Lesley Cornish gave Bernard Odera’s presentation for him, because he was booked off sick. Their work is all in the proceedings. S H Coetzee, L A, Cornish, M J Witcomb, and P K Jain (December 6-9, 2011). Solidification reactions in the Ni-Ru-V system, Microscopy Society of Southern Africa – Proceedings, Volume 41. L Chipise, P K Jain, N R Batane, L A Cornish and S H Coetzee (6th - 9th Dec 2011). New ternary phases in as-cast Ni-Ru-Zr alloy. Microscopy Society of Southern Africa – Proceedings, Volume 41. A O Apata. L A Cornish, M J Witcomb, G O Rading and P K Jain (6th - 9th Dec 2011). Solidus projection of the Ni-V-C system metals. Microscopy Society of Southern Africa – Proceedings, Volume 41. O.A. Olaseinde, L.A. Cornish, J.W. van der Merwe and P.A. Olubambi. Effect of Ruthenium Additions on the Microstructure of 2101 Duplex Stainless Steel. 6th – 9th Dec 2011, Microscopy Society of Southern Africa Conference, CSIR, Pretoria. A.O. Apata, L.A. Cornish, M.J. Witcomb, G.O. Rading and P.K. Jain. Preparation and Characterization of Ni-V-C Ternary Hard Alloys. 6th – 9th Dec 2011, Microscopy Society of Southern Africa Conference, CSIR, Pretoria. B.O. Odera, L A Cornish, M.B Shongwe, G.O. Rading and J.M. Papo. Solidification Projection of the Pt-Al-V System at the Pt-Rich Corner. 6th – 9th Dec 2011, Microscopy Society of Southern Africa Conference, CSIR, Pretoria. S.H. Coetzee, A. Mandevu and O. Sithole. Fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) trapping for quarantine surveillance in Botswana. 4 - 9 December 2011, 49th MSSA Conference, Pretoria, South Africa. Africa Materials Science Society Conference, Victoria Falls, 11th – 16th December 2011: Liberty Chipise and Ayodeja Apata presented, and their papers have been submitted to the Materials Research Society for potential publication. Lesley Cornish also gave two presentations for previous non-AMSEN students, and submitted those papers, and gave a lecture on binary phase diagrams at the associated School for undergraduate students. Participants went to see the Falls and also went on a cruise on the Zambezi River, where we saw hippos and lots of birds! I.O. Oladele, B. O. Aduda, P.K. Jain and E.J. Morris. Mechanical properties of retted sisal fibre reinforced polypropylene composites. 13th Dec 2011 at the International Conference of African Materials Research Society held in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Cosmas M. Muiva, Stephen T. Sathiaraj and Charles Moditswe. Chemical synthesis and characterisation of nanosized semiconducting structures of Bi2Se3. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of the African Materials Research Society (AfMRS), 11 – 16 December 2011, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Pg. 208. Sengate Onkabetse, Stephen T. Sathiaraj, J.G. King and Cosmas Muiva. Structural and Opto-electrical Characterisation of ß-In3S4 Nanocrystalline Thin Films. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of the African Materials Research Society (AfMRS), 11 – 16 December 2011, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Pg. 237. Mosimanegape Tobega, Kelebogile Maabong, Stephen T. Sathiaraj and Cosmas Muiva. Electrical, Optical and Structural Properties of RF Sputtered Aluminium Doped ZnO Thin Films. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of the African Materials Research Society (AfMRS), 11 – 16 December 2011, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Pg. 235. Johnathan Cole, M. Sankaran, T.S. Sathiaraj, C. Muiva and S. Coetzee. RF Sputtered ITO Films for Transparent Conducting Application. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of the African Materials Research Society (AfMRS), 11 – 16 December 2011, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Pg. 233. W. Tshawe, L.A. Cornish, L.H. Chown and J.M. Papo. A study of the Pt-Al Phase Diagram. 11th-16th Dec 2011, Africa Materials Research Society Conference, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. A.O. Apata, L.A. Cornish, M.J. Witcomb, G.O. Rading and P.K. Jain. Microstructural Characterisation of As-cast and Heat Treated Vanadium- Carbon-Nickel Alloys. 11th-16th Dec 2011, Africa Materials Research Society Conference, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. A.O. Apata & colleague. Development of Cementing Properties using local raw materials. 11th-16th Dec 2011, Africa Materials Research Society Conference, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. L.A. Cornish. Binary Phase Diagrams. School for Undergraduates and Postgraduates, held at the Africa Materials Research Society Conference, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. 11-16th Dec 2011. L Chipise, N R Batane, P K Jain, L A Cornish and S H Coetzee. Preliminary solidification projection surface for the Ni-Ru-Zr ternary system. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of the African Materials Research Society (AfMRS), 11 – 16h December 2011, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Pg. 143. AMSEN Workshop. 6th International Conference of the Africa Materials Research Society. Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. December 11-15, 2011. Institute of Physics Conference, Manchester, UK, 13th – 15th December 2011: Isaac Popoola should have presented by now. L.E.N. Nyemba, S. E. Iyuke, F.P.L. Kavishe. Reinforcement effects of carbon nanoballs on sulphonated styrene butadiene rubber ion exchange membrane. ICMMME for AMM. Looks like we will have a FUTA student at Wits, starting next year… and we have a new AMSEN supervisor at Wits Prof Claudia Polese in Mechanical, Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering who will be the major supervisor. November 2011: IIE: Weaving Success - Voices of Change in African Higher Education. Nov 2011. C.M. Muiva, S.T. Sathiaraj and J.M Mwabora, Crystallisation kinetics, glass forming ability and thermal stability in glassy Se100-XInX chalcogenide alloys, Journal of non-crystalline solids, 357, (Nov 2011) 3726-3713. I.O. Oladele, J.A. Omotoyinbo, B.O. Adewuyi and F.P.L. Kavishe. Effect of fibre extraction and chemical treatment on the tensile properties of sisal reinforced polypropylene composites. 22nd Nov 2011 at NIMACON held in Akure, Nigeria. A. Olaseinde. Electrochemical Behaviour of 2101, 2101 with Ruthenium and 316 SS. 21st – 24th Nov 2011, International Corrosion Conference, Perth, Australia. (Paper presented published as part of conference proceedings.) P.K. Jain, “Can MDGs be realised without energy sustainability?” Presented at the SANNAM Biennial Conference and AGM, 16th - 19th November 2011, GICC, Gaborone, Botswana. Mr Kenneth Njoroge is about to/or just has submitted a paper to the journal of “Modelling and Simulation in Materials Science and Engineering”. Mr O.J. Dada from FUTA has been accepted at Wits for his PhD, and will be a FUTA student studying at Wits, co-supervised by both Wits and FUTA staff. Mr Odilon Ilunga (UNAM) went to the National Metrology Institute of South Africa (NMISA), Pretoria on the 7th and 8th November with Professor Lesley Cornish and Mr Ayodeji Apata (Wits), and much work was done in the scanning electron microscope on his samples, with Mr Ayodeji Apata as the operator. This is a major breakthrough, and the results of the interactions between the copper and the steel looked interesting. We sent Mrs Adenike Olaseinde (Wits) on a CorrISA corrosion course at the end of October. Messrs Muiva (UB), Coetzee (UB), Chipese, Apata, Odera and Mrs Olaseinde have had their MSSA abstracts accepted, and will be presenting at that conference in December. They should all be working hard on their presentations. Mr Liberty Chipese (UB) and Mr Ayodeji Apata have both had abstracts accepted for the Africa Materials Research Society Conference at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe in December. Mr Isaac Popoola will be presenting at the Institute of Physics Conference in the UK in December. October 2011: AMSEN - Univeristy of Botswana Update. Oct 2011. P.K. Jain “Pour une diffution drable des technologies solaires en Afrique: comment sensibiliser, éduquer et former?”, Book chapter in La formation au cœur du développment, p141 – 149, Editor Christene Heuraux, ISBN 978-2-296-56101-4, L ‘Harmattan Oct 2011. A. Apata. As-cast and Heat Treated Vanadium- Carbon-Nickel Alloys. 27th Oct 2011, Powder Metallurgy Symposium, Crown Mines, Johannesburg, South Africa. P K Jain, Materials Research at the University of Botswana, A poster presentation at the Workshop on New Materials for Renewable Energy (smr2269), 17-21 October 2011, ICTP, Trieste, Italy. L.A. Cornish. African Materials Science and Engineering Network (AMSEN) – A Carnegie-AIS RISE Network: Progress and Achievements 2011. 14th-15th Oct 2011, Regional Initiative in Science and Education (RISE) Annual Meeting, Kampala, Uganda. B.O. Odera, L.A. Cornish, M.B. Shongwe, G.O. Rading and J.M. Papo. A Study of Some As-Cast And Heat Treated Alloys Of The Pt-Al-V System At The Pt-Rich Corner. 13th-14th Oct 2011, ZrTa 2011 New Metals Development Network Conference, Magaliesburg, South Africa. O.A. Olaseinde, J.W. van der Merwe, L.A. Cornish and P.A. Olubambi. Electrochemical Study of Fe-21Cr-1Ni Duplex Stainless Steels with 0.15wt% Ruthenium Addition at Different Temperatures. 13th-14th Oct 2011, ZrTa 2011 New Metals Development Network Conference, Magaliesburg, South Africa. Prof. Lesley Cornish was a finalist for the 2010/2011 National Science and Technology Forum “Eskom Research Capacity Developer over the last 5 to 10 years” award. Prof. Lesley Cornish was part of the team that was a R&D Magazine 2011, R&D 100 Winners, for Novel platinum/chromium alloy for the manufacture of improved coronary stents (Life Sciences); Primary developer: National Energy Technology Laboratory, USA; by Boston Scientific Corporation Inc. and Carpenter Specialty Alloys, Minitubes ZAC Technisud, Accellent Inc., for work done whilst at Mintek. Prof. Lesley Cornish won the Corrosion Institute of Southern Africa Research Award 2011, for the University of the Witwatersrand to advance corrosion research and capacity building in South Africa, together with Dr Abe Mngomezulu, CEO, Mintek, for collaboration for the application to the SARChI for a Chair in corrosion. Ayodeji Apata has had his abstract accepted for the 2011 Powder Metallurgy Association symposium. Prof Lesley Cornish has just returned from a three-day visit to the University of Botswana where she has been working with two students that she is co-supervising, Stephan Coetzee and Liberty Chipese under AMSEN. It is hoped that Liberty Chipese will submit his MPhil soon, and a journal paper from Stephan Coetzee’s MPhil work is being finalised. September 2011: AllAfrica: Stuff is Cool, If You're a Materials Scientist. Sept 2011. Research Africa: Engineers Get to Grips with Materials Science. Sept 2011. C.M. Muiva, S.T. Sathiaraj and J.M. Mwabora. Thermal and compositional defects in chemical spray pyrolysed indium selenide (In2Se3) thin films: Effects on film properties, Journal of opto-electronics and advanced materials. 13, (Sept 2011) 1240 1245. Late August 2011: FUTA has finally taken delivery of its microscope, which is now installed and commissioned for use by the students. FUTA expressed much gratitude for this, and it will help the students enormously. The feedback from the students who attended the two UB AMSEN workshops on SEM-EDX and hardness was very good. Mr. Oladele (FUTA PhD student) is hoping to come to Pretoria and Johannesburg, South Africa for further work on his research studies until 9th September 2011. It is planned that he will present a seminar at Wits on 1st September 2011 about his activities while in South Africa, assuming that he gets his visa in time! (Update: seminar agenda here) Another abstract was sent off to the Microscopy Society of Southern Africa Conference, to be held in Pretoria in December, so this means there should be at least 6 AMSEN student presenting. Next month will see the first "PASMAT, Pan African School for Materials” in Abuja, and at least 6 AMSEN students will attend this. August 2011: At the University of Botswana, two more workshops are about to be held: Hardness from 28th-29th July and SEM – EDX training from 1st – 5th August 2011. These will be attended by students from AMSEN. At Wits: Mr A. Apata submitted two abstracts to the Africa Materials Research Society Conference, to be held in Zimbabwe in December 2011. Mrs A.O. Olaseinde and Mr B. Odera have sent full papers to the ZrTa 2011 conference to be held in the Gauteng region, October 2011. This conference is part of South Africa’s Advanced Metals Initiative. Mr. L Nyemba graduated with his MSc on 21st July. He is currently aiding Mr Ilunga who has taken over the research project, but will soon move to Vaal to work on the commercialisation of his work. Mr K. Njoroge has undertaken a major part of writing up his work at the University of Nairobi. June 2011: UB Newsletter: RISE Delegation Visits the University of Botswana. Jun 2011. F.O. Aramide, D.O .Folorunso and S.Aribo. Formulation of refractory lining for solid fuel fired cupola furnace from locally sourced kaolin and potter’s clay. Leornardo Electronic Journal of Practice Technologies. June 2011. Prof Frank Kavishe participated in a Workshop on Comprehensive Industrial Extractive Metallurgical in Johannesburg, 13 ‐ 17 June 2011, aimed at helping mining, recycling and smelting engineers and other professionals, as well as academicians and researchers to refresh and expand their knowledge and update themselves with the latest advances in extractive metallurgy. The University of Nairobi node as well at Wits and UB played host to Arlen Hastings and Lori Mulcare from SIG in June 2011 during which they met the Vice Chancellor and other top management of the University, Officials from the Kenya National Council for Science and Technology as well as RISE Professors and students. May 2011: Prof. G. O. Rading, RISE coordinator, University of Nairobi Node was elected a Fellow of the Kenya National Academy of Sciences in May 2011. Prof. Cornish visited the USA in April‐May 2001 to visit Princeton University, to see Arlen Hastings and Lori Mulcare at RISE for discussions involving AMSEN and future funding opportunities, and also Prof. Wole Soboyejo to discuss the possibility of her lecturing on a course to be held in AUST, Abuja, Nigeria. She also was a Member of the Africa Study Mission, organised by ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership, to develop leadership in associations, Washington DC, USA 24th – 30th May 2011. L. Nyemba, S. Iyuke and F.P.L. Kavishe. Reinforcement Effects of Carbon Nanoballs on Sulphonated Styrene Butadiene Rubber Ion Exchange Membrane, Accepted in April 2011 for publication in (journal of) Applied Mechanics and Materials, ISSN: 1660-9336. J.N. Mwero, S.O. Abuodha, S.W. Mumenya, G.O. Rading and F.P.L. Kavishe. Sugarcane Waste Fibre Ash: Composition, Particle Size Distribution and Pozzolanic Properties, ICASTOR Journal of Engineering, Vol. 4, No. 2 (May 2011) pp. 137-144. LA Cornish. M.B. Shongwe, B. Odera, S. Samal, A.M. Ukpong, A. Watson, L.H. Chown, G.O. Rading and M.J. Papo. Putting it all together: several approaches to developing Pt‐based superalloys. 22nd ‐ 27th May 2011 Tutorial Lecture, 11th International Conference on Polymers and Advanced Materials (XI ICFPAM) (Incorporating Biomaterials Africa), University of Pretoria, South Africa (Book of Abstracts, p. 332). LA Cornish. Networking into Africa: Update from the African Materials Science and Engineering Network. 22nd ‐ 27th May 2011 11th International Conference on Polymers and Advanced Materials (XI ICFPAM) (Incorporating A. Olaseinde. Heat Treatment and Corrosion collaborations: Behaviour of 2101 Duplex Stainless Steel Cathodically Modified with Ruthenium. 13th May 2011 Presentation to the Advanced Metals Initiative, Wits University. B.O. Odera. Addition of niobium and vanadium to Pt‐based superalloys. 13th May 2011 Presentation to the Advanced Metals Initiative, Wits University. Lesley Cornish was a delegate for the Africa Mission Study given by ASAE in Washington, DC. There she met other people running associations in Africa and learned much about how to do this better. Adenike Olasiende had her abstract accepted for the Australian conference. Lesley Cornish will also present at this conference. Bernard Odera has submitted an abstract to ZrTa2011, the annual conference of the African Metals Initiative, which will take place in Johannesburg in October 2011. Lloyd Nyemba now has a post at North-West University (the Potchefstroom Campus) to help commercialize the findings from his master's. April 2011: P.K. Jain. Non‐grid rural electrification: Combating energy poverty in Africa. 15 April 2011, Lesotho Solar Energy Exhibition, UNDP, Maseru, Lesotho. March 2011: C.M. Muiva, S.T. Sathiaraj and K. Maabong. Effect of doping concentration of the Properties of aluminium doped zinc oxide films prepared by spray pyrolyses for transparent electrode application, Ceramics International, 37, (Mar 2011) 555-560. B. Odera with L. Cornish. Addition of niobium and vanadium to Pt‐based superalloys. 13th‐18th March 2011 Schloss Ringberg, Tegernsee, Germany. News from FUTA: Please find listed below the the paper published/submitted for publication. 1.Oladele I.O., Omotoyinbo J.A.and Adewara J.O.T (2010), Investigating the effect of chemical treatment on the constituents and tensile properties of sisal fibre. Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization. Vol.9, No.6, pp.569-582. 2.Aramide,F.O.,Folorunso,D.O.,Olubambi,P.A.and Borode,J.O.(2010), Impurity removal ability of oxalic acid from clay based materials. (submitted to Materials Research) Prof. B. O. Aduda, RISE supervisor was appointed Principal of the College of Biological and Physical Sciences at the University of Nairobi. The University of Nairobi hosted Meaza Demissie of CRDF (Washington, DC) this month. February 2011: Isaac Popoola was due to attend the Nanoscience Conference 2011 in Egypt in February. Unfortunately due to the political unrest, this conference was postponed. Isaac will be waiting for the conference to be rescheduled. Alain Mufula has filled the vacancy left by Lloyd Nyemba, who submitted his MSc dissertation in December. Alain will be continuing the research on the carbon nanotubes /polymer membrane composites for fuel cell application started by Lloyd. Alain is a UNam student, registered at Wits. Liberty Chipise from UB is visiting Prof Lesley Cornish for a week, and is working on the interpretation of his results. He will also be collecting samples for Stephan Coetzee, another UB student being so-supervised at Wits. Adenike Olaseinde has sent off her abstract for the 18th International Corrosion Congress, in Perth, Australia, 20th – 24th November. She is using some of her TATA Fellowship, Womane in Science prize to fund this. Bernard Odera is on tenterhooks waiting for the South African government to sort out his study permit (he applied in October last year) so that he can finalise his visa application to Germany. He should be attending the 25th Annual MSIT Meeting, International Seminar on Heterogeneous Multicomponent Equilibria. He will be attending this with Prof Cornish, both using external AMSEN funds. January 2011: Lloyd Nyemba submitted his MSc dissertation for examination in December 2010. Isaac Popoola submitted his MSc dissertation to be banked. He has applied to the Faculty of Science at the University of Witwatersrand to convert his MSc to a PhD. Isaac Popoola will be attending the Nanoscience Conference 2011 to be held in Egypt during February. December 2010: At the University of Botswana, Stephan Coetzee and Liberty Chipise are well into analysing their second batch of samples. Students from FUTA have returned home after their 6 week sojourn at the Tshwane University of Technology and Wits. Unfortunately, they did not give presentations at Wits, but will do so on a return visit. Lesley Cornish was invited to join the Executive of the African Materials Research Society (African MRS). (2010) Lesley Cornish was a finalist for the 2010/2011 National Science and Technology Forum "Eskom Research Capacity Developer over the Last 5 to 10 Years" award. P. K. Jain has been elected to the fellowship of the Institute of Physics (IoP), UK by the IoP Council in recognition of his “personal contribution to the advancement of physics as a discipline and a profession.” (2010) November 2010: UB Newsletter, November 2010. Page 11. Adenike Olaseinde attended a metal Dusting Seminar given by Dr J. Zhang who was presenting at Mintek, Randburg. Isaac Popoola is having his draft MSc looked at. At UB, they have broken part of the equipment in their SEM, but have managed to get their XRD up and running, and will soon be learning how to use it. Other than that, we are all working towards the next reports, and people are starting to go on their holidays! Late October 2010: Graham Bathgate and his co-authors have had a journal publication accepted: Title: "Continuous Synthesis of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes from Xylene Using the Swirled Floating Catalyst Chemical Vapour Deposition Technique" Jane Morris (from SABINA) is going to be a co-supervisor for I.O. Oladele at FUTA, so that there is some botanical input there. So there is a a cross-RISE Network collaboration! FUTA have been severely leant on to take on more external supervisors....and we are hoping to get a Wits staff member involved there. The FUTA students are still around in South Africa. Some of the AMSEN students are off to the Microscopy Conference next week. Bernard’s name is on a paper being presented at another conference next week as well. So the publications are starting! We have some interesting results from both A. Apata and B. Odera, and now understand more of those systems. We have run two lots of samples for the AMSEN UB students here at Wits.... XRD and DSC. October 2010: After being awarded the TATA Women in Science Fellowship on 13th August, Adenike Olaseinde has had a baby girl, born on 14th September. However, she came to the RISE conference in October! Presentations at the RISE Annual Meeting as follows: P K Jain (Poster) and S H Coetzee. Materials Research Facilities @ the University of Botswana. Forum on Regional Networks in Africa and RISE Student Scientific Conference, October 5-8, 2010, Johanesburg. P K Jain (Poster). African Materials Science and Engineering Network (AMSEN: A Carnegie – IAS RISE Network), University of Botswana Node - Activities and Progress: 2008 – 2010. Forum on Regional Networks in Africa and RISE Student Scientific Conference, October 5-8, 2010, Johanesburg. L Chipise (Poster), P K Jain, N R Batane, L A Cornish and S H Coetzee (2010). ~ Zr26 Ru24 Ni30 Ternary Phase in the Ni – Ru – Zr system. Forum on Regional Networks in Africa and RISE Student Scientific Conference, October 5-8, 2010, Johanesburg. C O Ayieko (Poster), B O Aduda, P K Jain, S. Waita and R J Musemb. Effect of Nitration on TiO2 thin film (N: TiO2) on efficiency of TiO2/ In (OH) xSy /Pb (OH) xSy (ETA) solar cells. Forum on Regional Networks in Africa and RISE Student Scientific Conference, October 5-8, 2010, Johanesburg. All of the AMSEN students that submitted abstracts to the Microscopy Society of Southern Africa Conference, to be held later in October in Bela Bela, South Africa, have had their abstracts accepted, and so they will be presenting. These are: Ayodeja Apata, Bernard Odera and Adenike Olaseinde from Wits, with Stephan Coetzee and Liberty Chipese from the University of Botswana. Last year, there were three AMSEN abstract at this conference, and this year, there are now five. Kenneth Njoroge (University of Nairobi) will be staying at Wits after the RISE conference to undertake some practical transmission electron microscopy work there. Mintek has kindly provided some of the samples for him. Four FUTA students will be staying on after the RISE Conference in Pretoria to undertake practical work at Tswhane University of Technology, where Dr Peter Olubambi is currently working. The optical microscope will be soon be arriving at FUTA! The University of Botswana has received its copies of the Ternary Diagram Handbooks. This is an important resource for both AMSEN and other students. At the University of Namibia, the mechanical testing equipment, mainly funded by the University itself, will soon be arriving. M.B. Shongwe, B. Odera, S. Samal, A.M. Ukpong, A. Watson, R. Suss, L.H. Chown, G.O. Rading, and L.A. Cornish, "Assessment of microstructures in the development of Pt-based superalloys." Light Metals Conference. October 27-29, 2010. Misty Hills, Muldersdrift, South Africa. August 2010: L A Cornish, F P L Kavishe and P K Jain. A centre and a network: Tensions and achievement. Presented at the 14th IEASA Conference, August 28 – September 01, 2010, Wits, RSA. Adenike Olaseinde, our only female student in AMSEN, is a finalist for a Woman in Science Award and will be attending the Gala Dinner on the 13th August 2010 where the awards will be made. She is in the Fellowships for Women Scientist category. Selected AMSEN students from Wits and the University of Botswana attended an X-ray course from 26th – 30th July 2010, which was presented by Dr Dave Billing from the School of Chemistry, Wits to Chemistry and Physics postgraduate students. It is planned to give this course in FUTA, Nigeria, in the near future as part of the AMSEN package. At least 5 abstracts from AMSEN have been sent to the Microscopy Society of Southern Africa conference in October, a paper was submitted to the Light Metals Conference Student Day (October), and a paper on AMSEN was sent to the 14th Annual International Education Association of South Africa Conference, University of the Witwatersrand. July 2010: Last year, three AMSEN students presented at the 47th Annual Conference of the Microscopy Society of South Africa, from Wits and UB. This year, we have five AMSEN students who have submitted abstracts for the 48th Annual Conference of the Microscopy Society of South Africa, again from Wits and UB. The conference will be at Warmbaths, South Africa. Once again, the students made the deadline! Most of the research work is going well, and some interesting results are being found. Profs. Cornish, Kavishe and Jain are about to submit a paper to the 14th Annual International Education Association of South Africa Conference University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 28th August – 1st September 2010 on AMSEN. Prof Cornish will present her Inaugural Lecture on the 13th July, and the title is “Developing Novel Alloys Using Phase Diagrams.” June 2010: P. K. Jain, "Entrepreneurship Education for Scientists and Engineers in Africa," Science with Africa conference, hosted by UNECA, Addis Ababa. June 24, 2010. Included in Proceedings of the Second Science with Africa Conference - 2010 here. I.O. Oladele, J.A. Omotoyinbo and J.O.T. Adewara, Investigating the effect of chemical treatment on the constituents and tensile properties of sisal fibre, Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering, Vol. 9, No. 6 (June 2010) pp.569-582. May 2010: Second Annual Report on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Africa. May 30, 2010. Pages 28-36. April 2010: Presentations on Materials Science Research, Tutorials on Phase diagrams, and EDX analysis. Workshop at University of Botswana. April 13-16, 2010. SEM and EDX Analysis: Demonstration and Practice. Workshop at University of Botswana. April 19-23, 2010. The University of Botswana node of the African Materials Science and Engineering Network (AMSEN), a Carnegie-IAS RISE network, hosted two consecutive research training Workshops for staff and graduate students from member universities including UB. The Workshops were organized in pursuance of the AMSEN objective of training, human resource development and capacity building in materials science and engineering in the member universities. The first Workshop on Materials Research, Phase Diagrams and SEM/ EDX from 13 to 16 April 2010 dealt with the theoretical aspects of the phase diagram research and the use of SEM and EDX. The workshop was attended by 10 delegates from the Universities of Botswana, Namibia, Nairobi, Wits, and the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria that included academics as well as MPhil/ PhD students. On the first day of the Workshop, delegates presented their research work. The remaining days were devoted to tutorials and lectures in phase diagrams of binary and ternary alloy systems and the use of SEM/ EDX as tools of research. The lectures and tutorials were presented by Prof. P K Jain (UB), Prof. L A Cornish (Wits) and Mr. S. H. Coetzee (UB). The second Workshop on SEM and EDX Demonstration and Practice from 19 – 23 April, 2010 was facilitated by Mr. S. H. Coetzee. This involved operation, use and application of SEM and EDX techniques in materials research. Participation was restricted to 8 trainees because of the space limitation in the EM laboratory. Electron microscopy is an indispensible tool in materials research to study the microstructure and microanalysis of samples by almost all materials researchers. The Workshops were self supporting. The cost was covered from the delegate’s registration fees. The registration of the UB participants was sponsored by AMSEN-UB.
March 2010: UNAM Forum Online. March 1, 2010. Two workshops are being arranged at the University of Botswana in April 2010: one on Phase Diagrams and one on Using the Scanning Electron Microscope. The first is open to all, and the latter will only have one participant from each Node because of the need to spend time on the instrument. Profs. Jain and Cornish will be presenting the first workshop, whereas Mr S. Coetzee will be presenting most of the second workshop. All of the students will be making a presentation of their research work on the first day of the first Workshop. P.K. Jain. "Sustainable Development: Energy Matters," University of Botswana. March 31, 2010. All the AMSEN students are busily finishing off their extended abstracts for the proceedings of the 1st AMSEN Workshop held in Namibia in January 2010. February 2010: “The behaviour of Sugar Cane Waste Ash as a Cementing Material”. Presented at International Symposium on Modernizing Local Sustainable Technologies, Nairobi, Kenya, 25th to 26th February 2010. Nearly all AMSEN members met in Windhoek at the end of January. It was opened by dignitaries from the University of Namibia and also His Excellency the High Commisioner of Nigeria. All the node presenters made a presentation, and I also did an overview. Then all the students gave presentations, and at the end we gave 3 prizes for the best presentations. Most of the talks were of a high standard and it was good to hear from the other nodes about what they were doing. Proceedings from the conference as follows: S H Coetzee, L A, Cornish, M J Witcomb, and P K Jain (2010). Review of the Ni-Ru-V system. Proceedings of the 1st AMSEN Workshop, Windhoek, Namibia, pp 13-14. L Chipise, P K Jain, N R Batane, L A Cornish and S H Coetzee (2010). A study of the Ni-Ru-Zr system. Proceedings of the 1st AMSEN Workshop, Windhoek, Namibia, pp 17-18. P K Jain (2010). University of Botswana node of AMSEN: Experience, observations, activities, achievements, and progress. Proceedings of the 1st AMSEN Workshop, Windhoek, Namibia, pp 8-10. A O Apata. L A Cornish, M J Witcomb, G O Rading and P K Jain (2010). Investigation of the V-C-Ni ternary phase diagrams and Development of abrasive-resistant alloys. Proceedings of the 1st AMSEN Workshop, Windhoek, Namibia, pp 31-32. C M Muiva, T S Sathiaraj and J M Mwabora (2010). Optical, electrical and structural properties of Se-In-Bi chalcogenide glasses: Phase change materials for data storage. . Proceedings of the 1st AMSEN Workshop, Windhoek, Namibia, pp 15-16. G Rabalone, O Totolo and S O Ekolu (2010). An investigation of indigenous clays of Botswana on the quality of clay masonry products. Proceedings of the 1st AMSEN Workshop, Windhoek, Namibia, pp 19-20. We also had a node co-ordinators meeting, and it came out that we needed more networking - not just using Wits as a central node. But that is also up to the other people! There are students who do not have a Wits supervisors. We all felt the Wokshop was a success, and would like to plan for another. Prof. Cornish is in Uppsala to meet with the people from ISP there, who are supported by SIDA. Next week, Bernard Odera and another student advised by Prof. Cornish (non-AMSEN but from Ghana) will be going to the University of Botswana for a week to learn and do some scanning electron microscopy. January 2010: Profs Cornish and Kavishe visited FUTA for a short visit. Despite the lack of power, the students gave a short introduction on their work, and Profs Cornish and Kavishe spoke about the aims and running of AMSEN, and also visited the Vice-Chancellor of FUTA, where they were very cordially received, and discussions took place on the sustainability of AMSEN. On the second day, the Engineering Materials Development Institute at Akure was visited. This is where the FUTA students undertake much of their experimental work, and it is very well equipped, and has a back-up electricity supply. December 2009: Wits Research Report 2009. Page 80. O. Olaniran, “Development of nano-structured parts by spin-casting method”, O.A. Olaseinde, A.M. Ukpong, L.A. Cornish, J.W. van der Merwe and P.A. Olubambi, The Effect of Minor Ru Additions on the Phase Properties in Selected Duplex Stainless Steels, 5th International Conference of the African Materials Research Society, Book of Abstracts, p. 123, Abuja, Nigeria, 14th – 18th December 2009. S.H. Coetzee, “Progress on the Liquidus Surface Diagram for the Ni-Ru-V System”, Microscopy Society of Southern Africa Conference. Durban, South Africa. December 8-11, 2009. B.O. Odera, L.A. Cornish, R. Süss and G.O. Rading, A Study of Phases in Selected Alloys from the Pt-Al-V System in the Pt-rich Corner, Proceedings of the Microscopy Society of Southern Africa Conference, Volume 39, p. 61, Durban, 8th – 11th December 2009. S H Coetzee, L A, Cornish, M J Witcomb, and P K Jain (2010). An investigation of the Ni-Ru-V system, Microscopy Society of Southern Africa – Proceedings, Volume 40, pp 53. L Chipise, P K Jain, N R Batane, L A Cornish and S H Coetzee (2010). ~Zr26Ru24Ni50 ternary phase in the Ni-Ru-Zr system. Microscopy Society of Southern Africa – Proceedings, Volume 40, pp 54. K Maabong, C M Muiva and S H Coetzee (2010). Microstructural modifications in indium sulphate layers: Substrate temperature effects. Microscopy Society of Southern Africa – Proceedings, 40, Pg. 39. C M Muiva, T S Sathiaraj and K Maabong (2010). Thermally induced structural defects in sprayed γ-In2Se3 chalcogenide glasses: Effects on optical properties. Microscopy Society of Southern Africa – Proceedings, Volume 40, pp 37. A O Apata. L A Cornish, M J Witcomb, G O Rading and P K Jain (2010). A composition of as-cast and heat treated Vanadium-Carbon-Nickel alloys. Microscopy Society of Southern Africa – Proceedings, Volume 40, pp 47. AMSEN students go back in time
The AMSEN students were invited to the combined DST/NRF Centre of Excellence combined End-of-Year-Function and Team Building events. This was held at Cooper’s Cave, which in the Cradle on Mankind near Johannesburg. We drove out in a bus, walked about 1.5 k to the site, had a muffin instead of breakfast, and then went on the site tour. The caves are interesting because they are in dolomite and have collected debris, including hominid and animal bones. Some of the caves are now exposed, so they are easy to excavate, except the debris has formed really hard breccia.
After the tour, we then had our first competition. We were put in teams, and each team was given a replica of an artefact and we had to say what we knew. As it was not much, we made it up, and the stories were very entertaining, if wildly inaccurate! After a picnic lunch, under the lovely wild olive tree, we had our second event, making stone tools. This was much more difficult than anyone anticipated, and the culmination was using the tools to cut bone. We were not very good at this, except for one person, who dropped the biggest rock he could find on the bones!
November 2009: G.O. Rading and L.A. Cornish, "AMSEN: A Carnegie-IAS RISE Project", African Universities Day, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. November 12, 2009. F.P.L. Kavishe, "African Materials Science and Engineering Network (AMSEN): Organization and Challenges", MacArthur Workshop. Abuja, Nigeria. November 11, 2009.
October 2009: UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA AMSEN NODE LAUNCHED University of Botswana: USA Charge d'Affaires Launches University of Botswana Node of AMSEN. Oct 2009. UB Newsletter, October 2009. Page 4. P.K. Jain. AMSEN-UB: Opportunities, Progress and Status Report. AMSEN-UB Launch by the Charge d'Affaires, Embassy of the USA in Gaborone, 13 October 2009, UB Campus. October 2009: L.A. Cornish, "DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Strong Materials and AMSEN: Experiences of an African Network", TWAS 11th General Conference. Durban, South Africa. October 20-23, 2009.
Meanwhile, at least four AMSEN abstracts have been accepted for the African Materials Research Society in Abuja, Nigeria. The deadline for the full papers is very soon, so we are all trying to finish the work! September 2009: New Funding Frameworks for African Partnerships, Who Benefits? by Fazela Haniff, Director of Wits International Office. September 18, 2009.
Through Wits, there has been e-mail contact with Prof. Chris Chama at the University of Zambia, who is keen to join the AMSEN scheme and send some students to Wits to undertake the research part of their degrees. We are now looking at some alternative sources of funding which will allow this. Chris Chama and Lesley Cornish met in 2003 at the African MRS Meeting in Johannesburg. Both Profs Lesley Cornish and Frank Kavishe attended the Regional and Interregional Cooperation to Strengthen Basic Sciences in Developing Countries Conference, September 1-4, 2009, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the former gave a presentation “Genesis of a Network: African Materials Science and Engineering Network (AMSEN)”. The conference was very useful, and now we have more contacts to try and get funding to expand AMSEN. Also, now there is interest from the University of Addis Ababa to collaborate, which resulted from the conference and the visit to the University after the conference. (Full conference proceedings available here.) August 2009: The following is the progression made by AMSEN students at University of Nairobi Node:
Other news is that now 3 students (2 at Wits and 1 at U Botswana) have sent off their proposals to the Microscopy Society of Southern Africa Conference (in December in Durban, SA) and one has gone off to the African Materials Research Society conference in Abuja, Nigeria also in December. Dr. Cornish is attending the Regional and Interregional Cooperation to Strengthen Basic Sciences in Developing Countries conference in Addis at the beginning of September and making a presentation regarding AMSEN. Dr. Kavishe attending too. The AMSEN workshop is now in January, still in Namibia. July 2009: B. Odera and A. Olaseinde. Presentations at the Advanced Metals Initiative Student Seminar. Mintek, Randburg, South Africa. July 9, 2009. Elizabeth Shigwedha, the Administrative Assistant from the U. Namibia Secretariat, is currently spending a week at the DST/NRF Centre of Excellence on Strong Materials (CoE-SM) at Wits, where she is being trained on her Secretariat duties, mainly by the CoE-SM Secretariat: Tanya (CoE-SM Administrative Manager), Moira (CoE-SM Secretary) and Marina (CoE-SM Book-keeper). She is being given advice and guidance on a number of issues, such as running the AMSEN Workshop. Unfortunately, the latter has been moved until next year – we did not realise that the African MRS (Materials Research Society) conference was this year, and there was a problem with the hotel.
Prof Cornish will also be presenting at the Regional and Interregional Cooperation to Strengthen Basic Sciences in Developing Countries Conference, September 1–4, 2009, in United Nations Conference Centre, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, mainly on AMSEN. June 2009: Mid-Term Review of the SANTED II Program of Support to Tertiary Education in South Africa by Robert Smith, LINS, and Michael Cross, University of the Witwatersrand. June 2009. Page 57. A visit to Zambia was made by Odilon Ilunga and Profs Cornish and Kavishe to a copper mine, and they looked at the all the processes from bringing up the ores to refining. This is necessary for the basis of Odilon's project. Experimental work has started in earnest for the other students, and a local conference in December has been targeted for them. On 9th July, two AMSEN students, Bernard Odera and Adenike Olaseinde, will be presenting their first results at the Advanced Materials Initiative seminar at Mintek. May 2009: Most of the students have submitted drafts of their research proposals, and these will soon be submitted to the Faculty. The first reports to be written by the students are due at the end of May, and already at least two have been submitted. Most of the students have already given a presentation of their proposed projects. Two students has already started their experimental work, on the characterization of the samples. Some of the students have been attending extra courses, for example, on writing at the University of the Witwatersrand. A thermodynamics and phase diagram course will be held at the University of the Witwatersrand from 1st – 5th June. April 2009: Three of the four Wits students have started their projects and are currently working on their project proposals. Similarly, three of the UNAM students who are registered at Wits while UNAM builds their programme are also at Wits. There is still difficulty with the remaining three students at Botswana, but one is safely identified and has already started on his project, although his registration is not yet completed. The status is unchanged for the U Nairobi and FUTA students. A provisional date has been identified for the first AMSEN workshop: 2-4 September 2009 in Namibia. All students and supervisors are expected to attend, and the students will present their work to date. There will also be presentations from each node coordinator. The workshop is designed so that the students can meet each other and that the academics and managers can also meet to increase understanding and efficiency of running the program. March 2009: P.K. Jain (Poster) and S.H. Coetzee. African Material Science and Engineering Network (AMSEN): UB Node. ORD -FOS Research Day: 19 March 2009. Three students have already started at the University of Witwatersrand and they are working on their literature surveys. The first experimental samples are being planned. Four students have been identified at the University of Namibia; two of these have been working in industry and want to return to the university. Two students are working on nanotechnology. There are plans for visits of copper smelters in South Africa, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, probably in June. Two students, who are members of staff, have already started at the University of Nairobi, and a third student will start later. One staff member at the University of Nairobi is undertaking his PhD at Wits. The Federal University of Technology, Akure in Nigeria has identified four students, together with their projects and supervisors. Stephan Coetzee is a member of the staff at University of Botswana who will soon be undertaking his PhD under AMSEN. He will also head the electron microscopy team. |
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