March 6, 2017

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Texas Service Center
Lewisville, TX 75067

Dear Immigration Officer,

My name is Tom Howe and I have been working in KBR as Principal Engineer since last
26 years. I did my B.S. in civil engineering in 1987 and have been in Industry since 37
years.
I have known Basem since November of 2009 where I have worked with him directly for
about two years. Basem worked for me in the mechanical design and specification of
over 100 storage tanks for the Sonaref refinery project in Angola. Basem prepared data
sheets and drawings for various types of storage tanks including fixed roof, floating roof
and pressure storage spheres. Basem coordinated with other engineering disciplines to
determine the design conditions, layout and other requirements to fully define the
equipment. Basem also worked for KBR in mechanical equipment for the Yanbu project
in Saudi Arabia from 2014.

Basem has good experience in design and specification of mechanical equipment such as
pressure vessels and storage tanks. He worked for preparation of these documents for
over 100 storage tanks of Sonaraf Refinery. He designed various types of storage tanks,
like fixed roof, dome roof , cone roof , external floating roof and fixed roof with internal
floating roof.

He worked as design engineer for KBR and Baker Hughes where he was involved in
preparation of design documents for pressure vessels and storage tanks.

In later part of his career, he worked as Sr./Chief technical professional where he

reviewed engineering and design documents and supported in refinery and chemical plant
construction.

Basem has published papers while attaining his Phd in mechanical engineering

Basem Al-Matar, "Mechanical behavior and fatigue performance of SMA short

fiber reinforced MMC" (January 1, 2007). ETD Collection for Wayne State
University Paper AAI3260778.

The main objectives of this thesis are to

1. Experimentally investigate the SMA strengthening effect of NiTi short fibers for
monotonic test and use Taya model for the strengthening mechanism of metal matrix
composites.

2. conduct both low-cycle and high-cycle fatigue tests for Al different constituents hybrid
composite, populate the S-N curve and model /2-Nf, /2-Nf, p/2-Nf, e/2-Nf for
Al 6061-NiTi-T6.
3. Investigate the inelastic mechanisms of the hybrid Al 6061-NiTi-T6 using a
combination of mechanical measurements and micromechanical analysis to evaluate the
contributions of plasticity and damage.
4. Study the overall damage-failure process of Al 6061-NiTi-T6 under cyclic loading

Basem Al-Matar, Ibrahim A. Alhomoudi, Golam Newaz Fatigue Resistance of

Short Fiber Reinforced AL6061; AL6061/SiC; and AL6061/SiC/NiTi
composites,Physical Metallurgy and Materials Science (under review)
unidirectionally
short
thermal
cooling
results
the
compared
found
increased :ber
(NiTi/Al6061,
pressure-assisted
shape-memory
resistance.
as well
cyclic as
conditions,
are
thatrate
aluminum shape-memory
monolithic
The
loading.
at
presented
to
by the distributed
Al6061-SiC
sintering
pretreatment
and
(WQCR),silicon
fatigue
room
The
composite
fatigue
two same
orders
life for
Al6061
life
temperature
inof specimens
the were
form
composite
of throughout
alloy
process
and
carbide
the
properties
of
reinforced
but
NiTi/Al6061-SiC
magnitude, in of
(SiC)
alloy for
cooling nickel-titanium
:ber
to
were
the
fabricated
tested an
NiTi/Al6061-SiC)
NiTi ambient
stress-life
with
withatslow aluminum
air.
enhance
were
rate
NiTi
compared under
di>erent
(S-N)
rate
composite, Surface
and
investigated
matrix (RTCR)
that
to were
carried
the
curves. (NiTi)
stress
cooling
quenched
monolithic
in matrix
improve
composites
underout,
two
and
The
in
term air.
of Ithas
preparation
the
fully
heat
in composites
fabricated
with
water
levels.
S-N
Al6061
the water
was been
and using
fatigue
specimens using
reversedof the
treatment
curvequenched
Experimental
was
cycles,
alloy
A well
unidirectionally
short
(NiTi/Al6061,
thermal
shape-memory
resistance.
as
cyclic
cooling
results
the
compared
found
increasedas
conditions,
are
that
A short :ber
pressure-assisted
rate
aluminum shape-memory
monolithic
The
loading.
at
presented
to
by the distributed
Al6061-SiC
sintering
pretreatment
and
(WQCR),
fatigue
two
fiber silicon
fatigue
room
The inof
composite
same
orders
life for
Al6061
life
the
of were
form
composite throughout
process
and
carbide
the alloy
properties
temperature
specimens of in
alloy
tested
reinforced
but
NiTi/Al6061-SiC
shape-memory magnitude, of
for:ber
to
were
coolingthe
fabricatedan
stress-life
with
withat nickel-titanium
NiTi/Al6061-SiC)
NiTi ambient
(SiC) slow
NiTi
compared
of aluminum
air.
enhance
were
under
di>erent
(S-N)
rate
composite, Surface
and
investigated
matrix
rate (RTCR)
that
to were
carried
the
curves.
stress
cooling
quenched
monolithic
nickel-titanium in matrix
(NiTi)
preparation
improve
composites
underout,
two
and
The
in
term
(NiTi)air.
of the
heat
in composites
has
fabricated
Itwith
fully
water
levels.
S-N
Al6061
the
has and
water
was been
using
fatigue
specimens using
reversedof the
treatment
curvequenched
Experimental
was
cycles,
alloy
been unidirectionally
distributed throughout an aluminum matrix composites (NiTi/Al6061, Al6061-SiC and
NiTi/Al6061-SiC) were fabricated using pressure-assisted sintering process in ambient
air. Surface preparation and thermal pretreatment for the NiTi fiber were carried out, with
using the shape-memory and silicon carbide (SiC) to enhance and improve the fatigue
resistance. The fatigue life properties for the matrix composites specimens as well as
monolithic Al6061 alloy were investigated under fully reversed cyclic loading. The
specimens fabricated under the two heat treatment conditions, at room temperature
cooling rate (RTCR) and water quenched cooling rate (WQCR), were tested at different
stress levels. Experimental results are presented in the form of stress-life (S-N) curves.
The S-N curve of the aluminum composite reinforced with NiTi that quenched in water
was compared to the same composite but with slow rate cooling in air. It was found that
fatigue life of NiTi/Al6061-SiC composite, in term of the cycles, increased by two orders
of magnitude, compared to monolithic Al6061 alloy.

"Yi Liu, Basem Al-Matar, Golam Newaz, An Investigation on the Interface in a

NiTi Short Fiber Reinforced 6061 Aluminum Composite by Transmission
Electron Microscope, Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A: Physical
Metallurgy and Materials Science, v 39, n 11, p 2749-2759, November 2008.

It has already been demonstrated that NiTi shape-memory alloy fiber-reinforced

composites show enhanced mechanical properties by adding a compressive stress to the
matrix when the shape-memory effect is activated. The bonding quality between NiTi
fiber and the matrix directly affects the stress transfer across the interface, through which
the novel functionality of the smart composite is achieved. In the present study, the
interface in a NiTi short-fiber-reinforced 6061 aluminum matrix has been investigated by
transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. Three layers at the
interface between NiTi fiber and 6061 aluminum alloy matrix have been found and
characterized, i.e., Al3Ti with DO22 ordered structure near the NiTi fiber, Al9FeNi with
Al9Co2 (or Al9Fe2) type ordered structure near the Al alloy matrix, and Mg-O layer with
20 nm in thickness between Al3Ti and Al9FeNi layers. The potential effects of these
layers on the mechanical properties of the composite are discussed. Evidence indicates
that extensive diffusion from both NiTi fiber and Al alloy matrix occurred during the
fabrication of the composite at 570 C to 580 C within 20 to 30 minutes. The minor
elements in the matrix could be the major elements at the interface. By selecting the

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chemical composition of the Al alloy matrix, it is possible to control the chemical
composition at the interface and further control the mechanical properties of the
composites.

C.L. Xie, M Hailat, Basem Al-Matar, G. Newaz and B. Raju . Fatigue Resistance
of Short Fiber-Reinforced TiNi/Al6061-SiC Composite, SAE 2007 World
Congress, Detroit, MI, April, 2007

The short NiTi fiber-reinforced NiTi/Al6061-SiC composite was recently developed

hrough the U.S. Army SBIR Phase-II program [1]. The objectives of this project are to
use short NiTi fiber reinforcement to induce compressive stress through shape memory
effect, to use silicon carbide (SiC) particulate reinforcement to enhance the mechanical
properties of the aluminum matrix, to gain fundamental knowledge of short NiTi fiber
reinforced aluminum matrix composite, and eventually to improve fatigue resistance,
impact damage tolerance and fracture toughness of the composite. The fatigue life,
damage and fracture behavior of TiNi/Al6061-SiC, TiNi/Al6061, Al6061-SiC composites
as well as monolithic Al6061 alloy were investigated under fully reversed cyclic loading.
It was found that fatigue life of NiTi/Al6061-SiC composite, in term of the cycles,
increased by two orders of magnitude, compared to monolithic Al6061 alloy.

Basem has worked for KBR which is a large international engineering and construction
firm which works in the energy and chemicals sector to design and build plants such as
refineries, chemical plants and other facilities such as LNG, Ethylene or Ammonia plants.
Basem worked as sr. technical professional engineer and chief technical professional
engineer for YASREF and SADARA projects, where he lead a team of engineering
professionals to support design documents review, construction supervision and project
management.

Basem has always provided quality engineering capability and knowledge in mechanical
design of equipment such as pressure vessels and storage tanks. Basem has good
knowledge and understanding of design codes such as ASME VIII and API 620/650.

I worked directly with Basem for about 2 years and found him to be knowledgeable in
Pressure vessel and tank design, professional, worked well as a team and had high
integrity. For these reasons, I recommend Basem for a Green Card.

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