Nj. Simms et al., Development and application of a methodology for the measurement of corrosion and erosion damage in laboratory, burner rig and plant environments, MATER HIGH, 17(2), 2000, pp. 355-362
Fuel gases derived from solid fuels such as coal, biomass and waste and the
ir mixes have the potential to cause both erosion and corrosion damage to c
omponents in gas turbines and diesel engines. To allow the statistically va
lid assessment of materials performance in short term plant runs, burner ri
g tests and laboratory simulated environments a methodology has been develo
ped to collect compatible quantitative data on materials degradation. Accur
ate measurement techniques based on pre-exposure contact metrology and post
-exposure optical microscopy/image analysis have been developed. These take
into account both the low level of damage required for practical systems a
nd the localised nature of hot corrosion damage. The data produced have bee
n used to derive and test quantitative models for the prediction of the per
formance of candidate materials in such power systems. For these models to
be used with confidence, similar damage morphologies must be produced in bo
th the real and simulated conditions, as well as similar damage rates.