Liang Wei receives Humboldt scholarship

Chinese material scientist joined the MPIE to do corrosion science

February 22, 2022

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation awarded Dr. Liang Wei from the Shanghai University, China, with a Humboldt scholarship. The scholarship enabled him to select any host institution in Germany to continue his research there for two years and he selected the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung (MPIE) in Düsseldorf. Wei is specialized on metallic corrosion. Therefore, he joined the MPIE group “Corrosion” where he develops novel corrosion-resistant high-strength high-entropy alloys.

“That’s my first research stay abroad and I’m delighted to be in a different research environment and a famous place like the MPIE. I know the institute from colleagues who also worked here. The institute offers the equipment that I need to further study the corrosion behaviour of precipitation-hardening high-entropy alloys. Moreover, I know many people here who focus their work on high-entropy alloys and with whom I intend to collaborate.”, says Wei. He will mainly use the scanning Kelvin probe, which was developed for corrosion studies at the MPIE and that enables to measure corrosion on the surface of materials. Precipitation-hardening high-entropy alloys are known for their high strength and ductility. However, as their composition and microstructures vary, their corrosion resistance has to be considered. Wei will explore a model alloy system made of iron, cobalt, chromium, nickel, aluminium and titanium.

Wei finished his PhD on the study of corrosion mechanisms of steels in supercritical carbon dioxide environments in 2017 at the University of Science and Technology Beijing, China. After that he worked as a postdoctoral fellow and research assistant at the Shanghai University, before joining the MPIE in 2022.

The Humboldt Foundation supports academic cooperation between outstanding scientists from abroad and in Germany. It grants these research fellowships to researchers who have excellent qualifications and their own research profile. As the awardee is free to choose any host institution in Germany, the prize counts as a great honour for both the awardee and the host institution.

Author: Yasmin Ahmed Salem

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