Fraunhofer ISC, Center for High Temperature Materials and Design HTL, Bayreuth
Project Cluster DiMaWert
Digitisation of material development along the value chains
Current funded project
Motivation
Energy balance of a heat treatment process in a roller furnace at a maximum temperature of 1050 °C
Well-designed thermoprocess equipment has a service life of more than 30 years. However, the refractory materials used need to be replaced more often, which has a negative impact on the carbon footprint and cost efficiency. Premature failure of the refractories can cause major damage. Precise definition of the requirements of the furnace materials based on furnace models and knowledge of their thermo-mechanical properties and failure behaviour make it possible to avoid damage and extend maintenance cycles.
Objective
TOM_wave with sample holder (left) as well as simulated temperature and resulting stress distribution of a sample during laser application (right)
For new types of furnace plants, the potential CO2 savings by design and process control shall be calculated for large-scale operation. This also includes the wear of the refractory materials due to thermomechanical loads. Lifetime models are decisive for a reliable prognosis of the failure probability. In this way, the contribution of the refractory materials to the overall CO2 footprint of the thermal processes is to be determined and optimisation potential identified.
Approach
Defect detection by means of non-destructive testing of furnace materials in order to determine reliable key figures for the service life calculation (Service Lifetime Prediction)
- Further development of the prediction tools for the failure probability of refractory components on the basis of experimentally determined Weibull paramenters for the assessment of subcritical crack growth
- Integration of imaging non-destructive testing methods (e.g. computer tomography)
- Evaluation of test methods for large refractory components
- Selection tools for refractory materials based on simulated load conditions
- Determination of the CO2 footprint of furnaces taking into account furnace design, refractory materials and process control