High temperature mechanical strength and microstructural stability of advanced 9-12%Cr steels and ODS steels.
The present study proposes a comparison between several martensitic and ferritic steels in terms of creep strength and cyclic softening effect. The damage mechanisms are identified using fractographic observations and the microstructural evolutions are observed by TEM. The effects of a modified chemical composition on the high temperature mechanical behaviour are studied.
Creep-Fatigue Interactions in a 9 Pct Cr-1 Pct Mo Martensitic Steel: Part II. Microstructural Evolutions
A multiscale characterization of the microstructural evolutions taking place in 9 to 12 pct Cr martensitic steels subjected to fatigue and creep-fatigue (CF) loadings is presented. Specimens of a P91 steel subjected to high-temperature cyclic loadings are examined using several experimental techniques. Bright-field transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD), and TEM orientation mapping are used to characterize and quantify the microstructural evolutions. A recovery phenomenon consisting of the coarsening of the subgrains and a decrease of the dislocation density is observed. This coarsening is heterogeneous and depends on the strain amplitude and on the applied hold time. The size distribution of subgrains and the dislocation density are measured from bright-field TEM observations. Orientation mapping on scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and TEM show that, even though a correlation between the crystallographic orientation and the recovery phenomenon is highlighted, a complex dependency related to the orientation of neighboring blocks exists. These microstructural observations are consistent with the very fast deterioration of creep properties due to cyclic loadings (reported in the first part of this study).
Numerical and experimental investigation on air distributor design of fluidized bed reactor of sawdust pyrolysis
Abstract An improved biomass conversion in a lab-scale fluidized bed reactor (FBR) is achieved by optimizing the air distributor orifice size and number. Two approaches for introducing air were numerically and experimentally examined. These included perforated plate and downward orifice sparger. 3 mm and 5 mm orifice diameters, and 7, 9 and 13 holes were simulated at flow velocities of 2, 4, 6, and 8 times the minimum fluidization velocity, Umf. The simulation results revealed that increasing the orifice number has a positive effect on gas holdup, particularly for the perforated plate, which showed a uniform distribution of bubbles. The sparger configuration produced larger bubbles sizes, which could lead to better recirculation of solid flux, while stagnant particle zones were observed at the lower section of both distributors. A pyrolysis unit is also inserted at the top of freeboard of the FBR. For perforated plate with 6Umf, the pyrolysis process achieved thermal and cold gas efficiencies of 82.91% and 52.03%, respectively, while combustible gases with 41.6%mol CO, 8.7%mol CH 4 and 2.17%mol HC, were obtained. For sparger pipe and 6U mf _sp, 35.33 ppm NOx and 111 ppm SO 2 were measured in flue gas from combustion process at bed region.