Principal Corrosion Scientist
Dr Zhengwei Li’s research is reshaping materials durability in New Zealand’s harshest environments.
Dr Zhengwei Li is a materials scientist specialising in corrosion, particularly the performance of metals in extreme environments. Corrosion alone costs Aotearoa New Zealand an estimated $16 billion each year – and Zhengwei's research is helping the industry reduce this toll. His work has directly informed material specification and durability provisions in the building code and contributed to technical guidance and national standards, including the introduction of a new extreme corrosivity category in New Zealand’s Steel Structures Standard.
That work is grounded in evidence from the field. Through a long-standing collaboration with the Joint Centre for Disaster Research at Massey University, he has studied how materials perform in the Chatham Islands – among the most corrosive marine environments nationally, if not globally – and demonstrated how sulphur in geothermal regions like Rotorua accelerates the degradation of metals, coatings, and treated timbers. With a large volcanic eruption likely to occur in Aotearoa within the next 50 years, the findings are helping the industry identify the right materials to meet building code requirements under extreme conditions.
His current flagship project, Materials Under the Changing Climate, is a six-year research programme combining real-world experimentation with artificial-intelligence modelling to build a clearer picture of how climate change will affect material performance and accelerate degradation across the built environment.
Prior to joining BRANZ, Zhengwei held research and postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Auckland from 2001 to 2007.
"Choosing the right building materials means balancing durability, climate resilience, and carbon emissions in a changing world."
Dr Zhengwei Li
Principal Corrosion Scientist
Qualifications
- PhD in Materials Science, University of Science and Technology, Beijing
- BE in Materials Science (Corrosion and Protection), University of Science and Technology Beijing, China
Industry participation
- MT-014 Corrosion of Metals – Australia / New Zealand joint standards committee
- MT-009 Metal Finishing – Australia / New Zealand joint standards committee
- BD-028 Masonry wall ties and accessories – Australia / New Zealand joint standards committee
- P3404 Steel structures standard revision committee
- TC4806 Durability requirements for steel structures committee
- TS3404 Durability requirements for steel structures and components development committee
