The Aluminum Anodizers Council, or AAC, recently announced the recipients of two Awards of Excellence during the 19th Annual International Anodizing Conference on October 6 in Montréal, Québec.
The 2010 Awards of Excellence recognized two authors who presented papers at the 2009 Anodizing Conference in Fort Worth, Texas. The Donald I. Johnson Award of Excellence for best presentation at the 2009 Anodizing Conference was awarded to H. Hau Wang, Ph.D. from Argonne National Laboratory for his paper, New Uses for Anodized Aluminum Oxide. The Robert L. Kersman Award of Excellence for best paper from the 2009 Anodizing Conference was awarded to Dale Barkey, Ph.D., Professor of Engineering at the University of New Hampshire for his paper, "Electrochemical Kinetics, Transport & Pattern Formation in Anodizing."
Wang, a chemist and principal Investigator in the Molecular Materials group, Materials Science Division, at Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, Ill., is an expert in electroactive, polymeric, and nano-scaled material synthesis and characterization. His presentation covered some of the work performed by the nano-science and engineering research community on Anodized Aluminum Oxide, or AAO. In his presentation, he explained that the framework of AAO is very similar to micro-channel plate, or MCP, used in various devices such as night vision goggles and photo-detectors. Wang noted that, with proper surface coating, AAO might lead to inexpensive large-area MCP detectors, which are components used for detection of particles such as electrons, ions and radiation such as ultraviolet radiation and X-rays. His presentation also briefly reviewed AAO-based exploratory efforts from basic research to energy and security applications.
Dr. Barkey's paper, "Electrochemical Kinetics, Transport & Pattern Formation in Anodizing, "addressed the formation of anodic oxide finish examined as a far-from-equilibrium electrochemical phase-formation process. In this view, the growth of a highly ordered oxide phase is related to competition among electrostatic and diffusive driving forces, surface kinetics, and spare charges. The paper studied the framework compared with published models of oxide growth, as well as experimental data from this laboratory.
The Aluminum Anodizers Council is the international trade association of firms engaged in aluminum anodizing and whose mission it is to support its members—and users of anodized aluminum—through education, advocacy, and promotion.
