Photo of Dr. Paul Gannon

Name and Position:

Paul Gannon

Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering

pgannon@montana.edu

What are your central research questions?

Can surface engineering provide cost-effective solutions for extreme and corrosive operating conditions within high-temperature chemical processing and energy conversion systems.  

 

What motivates or inspires your research?

Responding to anthropogenic climate change and contributing to global sustainability.

 

 

What is your academic background, and what professional development prepared you to do this research (i.e., what advice to young scientists who might be interested in pursuing this research as a career opportunity?)

I have a background in education and specializing in high corrosion of energy systems. I also pursued to learn more about education engineering and helped in the foundation of the Montana Engineering Education Research Center.

What are some of the key research findings, and what is their significance and application?

Several basic material behaviors and processing effects have been identified and used to inform materials selection for a variety of engineering applications. 

 

Microstructural Changes of TiC Precursor

Microstructural changes if TiC precursor to processed TiC-CDC powders are observed via SEM surface images (left) and their corresponding carbon KLL spectra obtained via AES.

 

Microstructural Changes of TiC Precursor

X-ray photoelectron spectra of Cr 2p3/2 regions used to analyze the speciation of chromuim on aluminosilicate fibers.

What is the funding source for this research?

Past funding from Industry (internationally), US Department of Energy and NASA.

Please provide a few recent publications that resulted from your research done at ICAL.

  1. G. Tatar, P. Gannon, N. Swain, R. Mason, E. Remington, S. Dansereau, “Investigation of surface interactions between volatile chromium species and ceramics”, Surface and Interface Analysis, 51, 5, 506-515 (2019)
  2.     G. Tatar, P. Gannon, N. Swain, R. Mason, E. Remington, S. Dansereau, “XPS Characterization of Aluminosilicate Fibers Post Interaction with Chromium Oxyhydroxide at 100–230°C”, Journal of the Electrochemistry Society, 165, 10, C624-C632 (2018)
  3.     J. Aller, N. Swain, M. Baber, G. Tatar, N. Jacobson, P. Gannon, “Influence of silicon on high-temperature (600° C) chlorosilane interactions with iron” Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 160, 410-417 (2017)
  4. G. Tatar, P. Gannon, N. Swain, E. Remington, S. Dansereau, “Surface Studies of T409 Stainless Steel at 700 °C in Wet or Dry Air or N2 With and Without Contacting Ceramic Fibers”, Oxidation of Metals, 90, 1-2, 217-235 (2018)