Jj. Xie et Pm. Walsh, EROSION OXIDATION OF CARBON-STEEL IN THE CONVECTION SECTION OF AN INDUSTRIAL BOILER COFIRING COAL-WATER FUEL AND NATURAL-GAS, Journal of engineering for gas turbines and power, 119(3), 1997, pp. 717-722
Walsh et al. (1994) reported measurements of erosion of carbon steel b
y fly ash and unburned char particles in the convective heat transfer
section of an industrial boiler cofiring coal-water fuel and natural g
as. Erosion was enhanced by directing a small jet of nitrogen, air, or
oxygen toward the surface of a test coupon mounted on an air-cooled t
ube. Ash and char particles that entered the jet from the surrounding
flue gas were accelerated toward the surface of the specimen. Samples
were exposed for 2 hours with metal temperature at 450, 550, and 650 K
(350, 530, and 710 degrees F). Changes in shape of the surface were m
easured using a surface profiler. Time-averaged maximum erosion rates
were obtained from the differences between the original surface height
and the lowest points in the profiles. Erosion was slowest at the low
est metal temperature, regardless of the jet gas composition. When the
oxygen partial pressure at the sample surface was very small, under t
he nitrogen jet, erosion increased with increasing temperature over th
e range of temperatures investigated. At the intermediate oxygen level
, in the air jet, erosion was most rapid at the intermediate temperatu
re. A model was developed by Xie (1995) to describe wastage of tube ma
terial in the presence of erosion by particle impacts and oxidation of
the metal. The observed changes in erosion rate with temperature and
oxygen concentration were consistent with a mechanism based upon the f
ollowing assumptions: (1) Metal was eroded as a ductile material, at a
rate that increased with increasing temperature. (2) Oxide was eroded
as a brittle material, at a rate of independent of temperature. (3) T
he oxide scale was strongly attached to the metal. (4) The erosion res
istance of metal and scale was a linear combination of the resistances
of the individual components. (5) Oxide formed according to the parab
olic rate law, with a rate coefficient proportional to the square root
of the oxygen partial pressure. (6) Erosion resistance from particles
sticking to, or embedded in, the surface was negligible. Using the mo
del and rate coefficients for metal and oxide erosion derived from the
measurements, estimates were made of the erosion rate of a boiler tub
e as functions of impaction angle and gas velocity. Under the conditio
ns of metal temperature, gas composition, particle size, particle conc
entration, and particle composition investigated, erosion of carbon st
eel is expected to be slower than 0.05 mu m/h when the gas velocity in
the convection section is less than approximately 8 m/s.