CorrDay 2024 - Ceremony
World Corrosion Awareness Day (24/04/2024) is behind us... but what a day it was!
On April 24, we met in the walls of the "Red Chemistry" building at M. Strzody Str 9 in Gliwice. Then, auditorium no. 1 became a place to celebrate a process that gives many people a headache. After all, who would like to see spots of red-colored residue on the paint of their beloved car? Or similar defect under a freshly painted railing? Yet awareness of corrosion is important. Being aware of how much we pay for corrosion (not only financially but unfortunately also with our health or life) encourages us to deepen our knowledge. On the other hand, corrosion also decorates. Properly designed materials (e.g. Corten steel or copper alloys for roofing) will be attractively covered with the products of this destructive phenomenon. Thanks to this event, we also want to attract public curiosity and draw their attention to this phenomenon, while informing that researchers from the Silesian University of Technology are also looking for solutions to the problems caused by corrosion. In addition to research, we also educate about anti-corrosion protection as part of studies in the following fields: Technologia Chemiczna czy Chemia Przemysłowa.
The ceremony organized by the Corrosion Testing Laboratory (LBK) on World Corrosion Awareness Day was the culmination of the event called CorrDay. As part of this event, we organized three competitions with prizes and a livestream showing the progression of corrosion over time on "cats" made of metal sheets of various compositions. On this day, we had the opportunity to welcome about 70 guests from the group of students and employees of the Silesian University of Technology, as well as our sponsors, partners, friendly researchers from other Universities and Institutes, and enthusiasts of photography, art and the phenomenon of corrosion in general. Guests gathered in auditorium no. 1 from 9:00 a.m., where we had the opportunity to familiarize ourselves with the offer of our Gold Sponsors: Labo24 and nLab. At that time, you could also see works awarded in art and photography competitions.
The official part of the event began at 10:00. The first to speak was the Head of LBK, Prof. Ph.D. Eng. Wojciech Simka, who welcomed the gathered guests and invited them to participate in the ceremony. Then, the Chemistry Students Research Society (SKNCh) presented a short show of chemical experiments, somewhat related to the topic of corrosion, as it showed colorful changes in chemistry due to changes in the oxidation state. It is worth noting that the Society supported our event as a partner from the very beginning. They took part in carrying out experiments and solving students problems together during Livestream, and they also prepared a short film about corrosion. We are very grateful for the contribution of our SKNCh students to the celebration of this special day. The next point of the ceremony was a very interesting popular science lecture by Dr. Hab. Eng. Małgorzata Zubielewicz from the Institute of Engineering of Polymer Materials and Dyes, Łukasiewicz Research Network entitled "Can coatings protect in an intelligent way?".
The last and most important point of the meeting was the results of the competitions and the awarding of prizes to the winners. The first competition with prizes was the Competition for the name of the ceramic Cat located on the roof of the Faculty of Chemistry of the Silesian University of Technology. Not everyone knows, but when we stand with our backs to the building of the State Fire Service at Wrocławska Street in Gliwice and look at the roof of "Red Chemistry" and we can see a small ceramic cat left here by the first users of the building, i.e. students of the Smelting School. For years, this cat was just a rarely mentioned curiosity. Through this competition, we wanted to encourage people to pay more attention to this interesting architectural detail and at the same time make it the mascot of CorrDay. One was selected from over 70 applications. From now on, the cat is no longer nameless and its name is:
KORRODEK
More about the competition and the winners can be found here.
Then, the prizes won in the "Rdzą Malowane" art competition were presented. This competition was addressed to pre-university students who, individually or in groups, prepared art works using any technique. The event office received over 25 great works, of which the competition committee selected 4 (podium + SITPChem special prize). In addition to individual prizes, the competition winners also won vouchers for entry to museum facilities for their classes. This last element of the award was possible thanks to the support of our partners: Muzeum Hutnictwa w Chorzowie, Walcownia - Muzeum Hutnictwa Cynku, Muzeum w Gliwicach, Planetarium - Śląski Park Nauki. More information about the competition, the awarded works and their authors can be found here.
The last point of the ceremony was the results of the 2nd edition of the "Corrosion around us" photo competition. The competition participants were tasked with taking original photos of interestingly outlined corrosion processes that would tell a story that, on the one hand, makes one reflect on anti-corrosion protection and, on the other hand, shows the artistic aspect of this phenomenon. The competition committee assessed over 150 submitted photographs, of which 3 winning works, 7 honorable mentions and 2 special prizes were selected. The best photo entitled "Corrosion - A Bottomless Well" will also be published in the industry magazine "Ochrona przed korozją". We would like to thank the Journal's Editorial Team for their continued support. More information about the competition, the awarded photographs and their authors can be found here.
Photos taken by the organizers - link.
Photos taken by the Promotion and Communication Centre - link.
Finally, the Head of the Corrosion Testing Laboratory and the CorrDay 2024 Organizing Committee composed of: Dr. Eng. Artur Maciej, Ph.D. Eng. Andrzej Milewski, Ph.D. Eng. Maciej Sowa, Ph.D. Eng. Marta Wala-Kapica and M.Sc. Eng. Aleksander Olesiński would also like to thank all sponsors and partners, without whom this event would not take place, in particular:
- Rector of the Silesian University of Technology, Prof. Dr. Hab. Eng. Arkadiusz Mężyk for providing the event with his patronage,
- Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry, Prof. Dr. Hab. Eng. Krzysztof Walczak for providing the event with his patronage,
- Association of Friends of the Faculty of Chemistry for partner support at many stages of organization,
- Promotion and Communication Centre for media and graphic support in the preparation of the event,
- Centre for the Popularization of Science for media support,
- Gold Sponsors for their financial support:
- Silver Sponsors for their financial support,
- International Society of Electrochemistry for their financial support,
- Polish Association of Chemical Engineers SITPChem for donating a special prize,
- Polish Chemical Society for the gifts and media support,
- Polish Corrosion Society for taking patronage over the event,
- Polish Radio Katowice for media support and help in obtaining close-up photos of "Korrodek" 🙂
- Forum Akademickie for continuous media support for two editions.
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