Instructors

Dr. Maxine Watson
Maxine is Director, Power Engineering for Quest Integrity Ltd. She began her career in the nuclear industry with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and has held several senior positions in AEA Technology and ESR Technology including Head of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering for the National Centre of Tribology in the UK.

Maxine has over 27 years experience working with the Power Industry specializing in life assessment, root cause failure diagnosis, failure prevention and remediation, specializing in the reliability of rotating equipment. She provides independent advice and expert reports for legal and insurance cases, loss adjusters and for other investigatory bodies, including Government Health and Safety Executives and Defense Organizations.

Maxine has a proven track record in delivering benefits to industry from research projects. She has devised and managed several multimillion pound research programs aimed at improving the service life and reliability of rotating machinery including four, multi-industry client programs on the industrial applications of coatings and surface treatments. She has recently completed a three year joint industry program on gas turbine life assessment and asset management as part of the Australian CIEAM initiative.

Maxine is the Chair of the Gas Turbine Users Forum in Australia/New Zealand and is also Chair and presents at industry events including Asia Powertech, Asia Gas Turbines and the Australia Gas Turbines User Conference. Maxine devises and presents training courses and workshops for IIR Australia and ibc Asia.

Dr Michael B. Henderson
Michael is a Principal Consultant and team leader for the Materials and Turbine Engineering Group at Quest Integrity NZL Ltd. He is a chartered engineer (C.Eng) with a first class honours degree in Metallurgy (B.Met (hons)) and a D.Phil in Materials Science from Oxford University. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Mining, Minerals and Materials (FIMMM). Michael's areas of expertise are steam and gas turbine materials, protective coatings, creep and fatigue damage, oxidation and corrosion, lifing methods and product / process developments for high temperature power generation plant. Michael specialises in providing independent steam and gas turbine engineering consultancy services to a number of power generation industry clients in New Zealand, Australia, Middle East, South East Asia and South America. This is an applied, field engineering role that uses much of his past experience from the gas and steam turbine research and development and manufacturing industries to provide life extension and management expertise, that enables the plant owners to operate in a more cost effective but safe manner.

Michael has conducted numerous root cause failure investigations on frame and aero-derivative gas turbines and steam turbines for equipment operators, insurance companies and loss adjustors. Much of this work is underpinned by his previous experience in the power generation manufacturing industry.

Before joining Quest Integrity, Michael worked in the UK and Switzerland for Alstom Power, specialising in the performance of high temperature nickel and steel alloys and coatings used in steam and gas turbines. Whilst at Alstom, Michael worked as the Head of Materials Technology at the Alstom Power Technology Centre, where he was responsible for the Metallographic Analysis facilities, as well as Project and Technical Management of several gas turbine materials development projects (combustor materials and lifing, creep and fatigue of single crystal superalloys, development of coated single crystal and directionally solidified alloys, development of investment cast and forged titanium aluminide alloys, manufacture and lifing of turbine discs). Michael also worked for the Alstom Steam Turbine Group as Project Leader & Principal Engineer, managing several programmes aimed at higher efficiency steam turbine plant (rotor steels, steels and nickel alloys for blading, labyrinth seals / brush seals, coatings) and played a key role in the development of high temperature materials for super critical steam turbines.

Prior to working at Alstom, Michael worked for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA), as Group Head of Aero Engine Integrity and Project Technical Leader. He was responsible for numerous programmes of research in the field of high temperature materials and gas turbine engine component life assessment. Projects included the development of advanced materials and coating systems, creep and fatigue behaviour of single crystal, directionally solidified and polycrystalline nickel-based superalloys, fatigue and creep of disc alloys, development of advanced lifing methods for turbine blades, combustor alloys and structures.