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MATCO Florida
MATCO Florida’s investigation team has many years of experience in all aspects of on-site and laboratory inspection, investigation, and assessment. Our diverse group of Ph.D.s, registered professional engineers, and certified technicians can provide all of the expertise you require for your inspection needs. From electrical transmission pole corrosion, to underground pipeline explosions, to bridge accident assessment, to failure analysis of jet engine components; MATCO Florida has the expertise you require in the inspection and investigative field. We also provide litigation support and expert witness testimony when required.
In addition to routine testing, MATCO Florida will offer the following services:
While MATCO has worked in Florida for many years and with many great clients including Sony, US Filter/Fluid Dynamics, GE Energy, Advanced Roofing, Michael Baker Engineering, Concurrent Technologies and Bailey Engineering, we have always had to send staff engineers from MATCO Main to perform work in Florida. However, beginning in October 2006 we are very pleased and excited to announce this will no longer be the case.
This is due, in large part, to the efforts of Walter Gretz, MATCO’s Vice President and a Professional Engineer (PE-008552E) with over 35 years of experience in failure analysis and materials testing, who has recently received an endorsement from the state of Florida as a Professional Engineer (PE 63557). With this endorsement, MATCO can now establish a full fledged office and lab that can provide rush services in the state of Florida. WAY TO GO WALTER!
Working with Walter to establish MATCO Florida’s corrosion inspection, failure analysis, materials testing and cathodic protection services is Mr. Kevin Groll, Manager of MATCO’s Special Testing Division. Kevin is NACE Certified, and he has performed studies on microbiologically induced corrosion, galvanic corrosion resistance of coatings, and chloride and sulfate induced types of corrosion on different metals. He has also performed onsite evaluations of custom mechanical testing for a variety of mechanical structures, and is currently involved in the investigation of causes and corrective actions of weld cracking on structural steel poles used for traffic signal and street light mounting. He is also involved in the development of an electrochemical sensor to be used in the titanium manufacturing industry.
Corrosion Engineering
Restoration of Magical, mystical, beautiful, historic, BOK Tower Gardens-MATCO crews work to ensure the Bok Tower will be around for generations to come.
MATCO Florida will be able to continue the great work MATCO Main has been performing to preserve the historical Bok Tower Sanctuary. The Bok Tower was built in 1929, and is a masonry-encased steel framed building with marble and coquina siding. It was found that the coquina brick, which is made of crushed seashells and similar materials, allowed moisture to penetrate to the steel members and cause corrosion. To address this issue, MATCO was requested to provide a cathodic protection system design that would best protect the horizontal structural steel supports from corrosion attack.
BOK Tower
As part of the cathodic protection design, MATCO built a mock up of the tower in accordance with specifications at MATCO's Corrosion Laboratory.
MATCO Engineer Inspecting The tower for Corrosion Damage
Hurricane Damage Assessment- MATCO is well placed to provide rapid client response in the immediate aftermath of a storm. The most important thing for a client is to get an assessment and photo documentation immediately, while early damage is apparent. It is also important to provide this as a benchmark against which to measure damage that takes some time to show up.
The most important type of damage is from water, particularly salt water, especially as it effects corrosion of metal, electrical components and wiring. In addition, moisture itself, especially when trapped and prevented from drying out, can be a major source of damage. Some building components are supposed to never get wet: plaster or wall board, insulation, all electronic components are good examples of materials to maintain permanently dry. Wood components may also be susceptible to damage from trapped moisture.
Beyond mere moisture, the composition of the wetting liquid is also important. Salt water is far worse a promoting corrosion than fresh water. The chloride ions react with most metals to begin an almost limitless cycle of pitting in steel and copper. Galvanized steel is also highly susceptible to localized corrosion.
Roofs are another area of major concern in post-hurricane damage assessment. Flat roofs are particularly susceptible to leaking after high wind stress. Documentation of water damage from roof failures is a major part of post-hurricane rapid response.
MATCO Florida Team includes:
Mehrooz Zamanzadeh, PhD, FASM, NACE Certified Corrosion, Coatings, Materials Selection/Design, Cathodic Protection Specialist
Dr. Zamanzadeh is the primary scientist, consultant and investigator on all of MATCO’s fracture, paint and coatings, and materials failure-analysis-related projects. He is an expert in failure analysis, corrosion, paint and coatings, cathodic protection, materials selection and design. Over the course of his career, Dr. Zamanzadeh has performed and reviewed literally thousands of failure analyses investigations involving materials damage on PVC and FRP pipes and tubing, cables, flexible connectors, aging aircraft components, accident and explosion cases involving materials failures, human implants, electronic circuitry devices, automobile and fire engine components, industrial, manufacturing, process and construction failures.
Kevin Groll, Mechanical Engineer
Kevin Groll, Mechanical Engineer, began work at MATCO even before he graduated from the West Virginia University in 2004 with his degree in mechanical engineering. He has assumed progressively larger responsibilities, opening MATCO’s Florida office, organizing and leading major projects in the field, even tackling complex corrosion-related projects in Canada and West Africa. He is a NACE-certified Corrosion Technician. His projects have included detection and mitigation of microbiologically-influenced corrosion, analysis of resistance of coatings to galvanic corrosion and the influence of chloride and sulfate on corrosion of different types of materials. He has also played major roles in testing and design of sacrificial anode and impressed-current cathodic protection systems.
Debra Riley, Manager, Sales & Marketing
Ms. Riley accepted a position with MATCO in 1997 as technical writer and editor. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Chatham College and is NACE Certified (NACE 9614). In January, 2006 she was promoted from Administrator to Manager of Sales & Marketing. In addition to her sales and marketing responsibilities, she is also the point of contact and Project Coordinator for MATCO’s largest clients including US Airways, Valmont Industries, Michael Baker Engineering, Bombardier, Alcoa and Sony. Debra has also been involved in a number of long-term field investigations that involve corrosion failure analysis, fatigue analysis and coating failures. She has assisted clients in developing best practice solutions as a result of her investigations and conclusions resulting in specification and process changes for the industry involved.
MATCO looks forward to assisting Florida clients with their materials testing and evaluation needs. Large or small, all projects are important to MATCO. Feel free to give us a call at our toll free number 800-221-9090 or 412-952-9441 to discuss any materials problems you may have.
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