Kahlon, Navdeep Singh (2019). Power plant materials condition monitoring and degradation assessment. University of Birmingham. Eng.D.
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Kahlon2019EngD.pdf
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Abstract
Decarbonisation of energy has required fossil fuel power plants to increase operating efficiencies, thus demanding greater performance from critical boiler components. This has raised the scrutiny on power plant operators to be able to non-destructively and accurately characterise component microstructures, particularly those with abnormal surface layers which are unrepresentative of the component’s bulk properties. Current techniques (surface replication and hardness testing) have shortcomings since they can only characterise material at the surface, they suffer from inaccuracy and can be time consuming to perform. Electromagnetic (EM) sensors have shown the ability to characterise mis-heat treated (MHT) aberrant microstructures from correctly heat treated (CHT) microstructures based on predominantly lab based research. The work presented in this thesis has addressed some important problems faced by the EM sensor technique for industrial deployment, which have been overlooked in lab-based research and in the literature. The influence of surface roughness, decarburised surface layers and work hardened surface layers on the EM sensor’s ability to distinguish CHT from MHT bulk microstructures has been investigated. Results have shown that the EM sensor has the ability to distinguish bulk microstructures, through the presence of an abnormal surface layer. Recommendations have been provided to take advantage of or remove some of these phenomena where appropriate. The results have led to recommendations of two specific applications where the EM sensor can be deployed as a complementary technique in screening service entry material or as a principle technique for screening in-situ components during maintenance outages.
| Type of Work: | Thesis (Doctorates > Eng.D.) | |||||||||
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| Award Type: | Doctorates > Eng.D. | |||||||||
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| Licence: | All rights reserved | |||||||||
| College/Faculty: | Colleges (2008 onwards) > College of Engineering & Physical Sciences | |||||||||
| School or Department: | School of Metallurgy and Materials | |||||||||
| Funders: | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Other | |||||||||
| Other Funders: | EON | |||||||||
| Subjects: | T Technology > TN Mining engineering. Metallurgy | |||||||||
| URI: | http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/9178 |
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