Dr. Sigrún Nanna Karlsdóttir

Dr. Sigrún Nanna Karlsdóttir is a Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Iceland. 
Dr. Karlsdottir is also a co-founder and owner of Gerosion Ltd., an engineering consulting and R&D Company

Research interest:
  • Structural materials
  • Materials for energy, specifically geothermal energy
  • Corrosion and oxidation of materials
  • Biomaterials for biomedical engineering application
Research focus
  • Performance of materials, e.g. mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of various materials for usage in extreme environments
  • Oxidation behavior of ceramic composites in the air at ultra-high temperatures (to 2100°C) and corrosion of metals in the geothermal environment, including superheated geothermal steam

Dr. Karlsdóttir was the leading scientist and organizer of the material testing on-site at IDDP-1, the first well in the Iceland Deep Drilling Project (IDDP) and the hottest geothermal well in the world (450°C).

Sigrún Nanna Karlsdóttir

Dr. Karlsdottir is active in research on scaling and corrosion in geothermal environment, including material testing in extreme conditions such as in superheated geothermal steam in-situ and in a simulated environment. She has extensive experience in analyzing material performance and corrosion resistance using microstructural and chemical composition analysis (SEM, EDS, EPMA), phase identification of crystalline material (XRD), and mechanical testing.

Her recent involvement in projects in national and international collaboration includes corrosion studies of cladding materials and coatings in high-temperature geothermal environment and research on corrosion behavior if corrosion resistant alloys in simulated high temperature deep geothermal environment.

She has published over 40 papers in these fields, received research grants from the energy sector, and consulted Icelandic energy companies in matters related to corrosion and material selection in geothermal environments.

Dr. Karlsdottir serves as a board member on the Geothermal Association of Iceland (GAI) since 2018.
She served as a a session chair and co-chair several times (2017, 2018, 2022) for the symposium Geothermal Scaling and Corrosion at the annual conference CORROSION, the largest conference in the world in the field of corrosion sciences.

Dr. Karlsdóttir is a member of NACE/AMPP International and in good connection and collaboration with the international society of corrosion professionals. 

  • B.S. degree in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering in 2003 from the University of Iceland
  • Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan in December 2007