Talk title: Generational Lessons from the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge Anchor Rod Failures
Biography
Salim Brahimi is an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Materials Engineering at McGill University, and co-director of the McGill Hydrogen Embrittlement Facility. He is also the Technical Director at Industrial Fasteners Institute. He is a licensed engineer, with 37 years of experience in the fastener industry. Dr. Brahimi has served as chair of ASTM Committee F16 on Fasteners, chair of ASTM Committee F07 on Aerospace and Aircraft, and chair of the Research Council on Structural Connections (RCSC). He is currently serving as chair of ASME Committee B18, and head of Canada’s mirror committee to ISO Committee TC2 on Fasteners.
Experience
Dr. Brahimi began his professional career in 1989 with Ifastgroupe, an integrated fastener manufacturing group headquartered in Marieville, Quebec. He served as Process Engineer then Quality Manager at Galvano, a coatings division, where he gained in-depth expertise of fastener coating processes. In 1996 he moved to Infasco, the primary manufacturing division, where he served as Metallurgist. In 1999 he took a position in Troy, Michigan as Director of Applications Engineering and Quality at Kamax, a German based tier one manufacturer of critical fasteners, supplying the automotive and heavy truck industries in Europe and North America. In 2002, he founded IBECA Technologies, a research and engineering firm focused on academic research and fastener engineering, including failure investigations. In 2015, Dr. Brahimi joined the Industrial Fasteners Institute (IFI), and in January 2016 he succeeded Joe Greenslade as Technical Director and continues to serve in that role. Dr. Brahimi is recognized and highly respected throughout the fastener industry as a leading expert in fastener manufacturing, fastener metallurgy, application engineering, corrosion prevention, failure analysis, and hydrogen embrittlement. He is a lead instructor with the Fastener Training Institute.
Awards
2024 – Walter C. Voss Award presented by ASTM International for outstanding contributions to materials science, specifically in the field of hydrogen embrittlement, and the advancement of fastener standards, bolted connections, and building technology.
2015 – IFI Soaring Eagle Technology Award presented by the Industrial Fasteners Institute in recognition of contributions to the fastener industry’s body of knowledge in the areas of materials and finishes, and their impact on hydrogen induced failures in high strength fasteners.
2004 – Fred F. Weingruber Award presented by ASTM in recognition of outstanding contributions to the development of fastener standards, especially in the field of hydrogen embrittlement.
Research
Salim Brahimi co-founded and co-directs the McGill Hydrogen Embrittlement Facility (MHEF), which began in 2006 as a collaborative research and development (CRD) project, co-sponsored by several industrial partners, including Boeing, IFI, Infasco, Pratt & Whitney, Heroux-Devtek and co funded by the government of Canada. The research follows multiple distinct tracks such as:
- fastener materials susceptibility,
- interactions of fastener materials with coatings and coating processes, and
- aerospace materials and coatings.
MHEF has evolved into a center of excellence on fasteners and hydrogen embrittlement that is recognized around the world.
Notable Contributions to Industry
Dr. Brahimi has played a leading role in the development of numerous ASTM, ISO and SAE fastener standards. He has also authored and co-authored numerous technical and scientific publications based on ongoing academic. High impact contributions include the following.
Authored the first ASTM standard for electroplated coatings on fasteners; ASTM F1941, Specification for the Electrodeposited Coating of Threaded Fasteners (1998).
Authored the watershed technical report ISO/TR 20491, Fundamentals of hydrogen embrittlement in steel fasteners (2019), based on two decades of engineering studies and scientific research.
Authored Alloy and composition dependence of hydrogen embrittlement susceptibility in high-strength steel fasteners, published by the Royal Society (2017).
Conducted research that led to ASTM Committee F16 permitting in 2006 the use of metallic coatings, previously prohibited, on high strength A490 structural bolts. The first major public works project to use coated A490 bolts was the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, inaugurated in 2013.
Led an ASTM task group of industry experts that developed ASTM F1940, Process Control Verification to Prevent Hydrogen Embrittlement in Plated or Coated Fasteners (1999).
