Better materials for constructing electrical power plants, including a variety of alloys, are becoming increasingly important to their operation. The first international conference to address the subject, Alloys in Power Plant Technology, will be held this June in Berlin.
The question of what materials to use in which components of a conventional power plant usually arises when changes in the design or operation are being considered. Materials may include alloys, composites, ceramics, coatings, and linings. All must be resistant to corrosion, have a long service life, be safe to process, and be cost-efficient to produce. Strength is also important in this high-duty environment, where the impacts of startup and shutdown procedures and the effects of cyclic service can reduce material service life.
Better materials for constructing electrical power plants, including a variety of alloys, are becoming increasingly important to their operation, sparking a new international conference on the subject. (Source: VDI Wissensforum)
For example, T24 is a ferritic material used in the membrane walls of thermal power plants with a steam temperature of about 600°C. Above that steam temperature, nickel-based alloys like T91 are probably better choices. But unexpected problems with T24 have occurred during its handling, according to Frank Neumann, head of project and technical support at RWE Technology in Germany. In a lecture, he will describe the damages that have occurred and report on test results and conclusions about the origin and nature of those damages.
Some components require specific manufacturing conditions that must be allowed for by construction engineers. Erik Solomonsson, distribution manager of Sandvik Powdermet in Sweden, will discuss hot isostatic produced components for power plants. During this process, complex components can be produced with powder metallurgy, which avoids complicated welded structures.
Engineers from European Technology Development in Great Britain will talk about repairing thick-walled components of P91 martensitic steel and preventing crack formation. They will also explain how temperatures are controlled in the thermal treatment of the P92 alloy after welding. Thermodynamic modeling plays a major role during this process.
Karl Maile, acting director of the Institute for Materials Testing at the University of Stuttgart and chairman of the conference, will give a talk on high-temperature materials for advanced fossil fuel-fired plants, including testing procedures.
The conference will highlight both the economic and technological considerations for new materials. Topics include load and duty profiles for high-temperature alloys, application areas for innovative material concepts, resource efficiency offered by composite materials, production technologies and joining methods, testing methods and component testability, and load and duty limits relative to power plant load flexibility.
The power industry generally makes incremental improvements over time. This is becuase the machinery is large, complex and expensive. It is a matter of economics. Improving materials to be more effective and long lasting will wring improvements out of the plants thus improving effeciency, always the goal of the power industry.
Having this in Germany is interesting at this time as well. Germany has decided to shut down their nuclear plants, so they need to improve effeciency. They are also, of course, very advanced when it comes to metalurgy.
Thanks, naperlou, for weighing in on this subject. I would guess that the size of the machines and systems dictates a longer design and production cycle. The conference location plus the facts that Germany is looking for alternatives to nuclear power and is advanced in metallurgy are points well taken. Thanks for mentioning them.
I do not see how we will be able to move away from nuclear power. The amount of power our world requires is daunting. Nuclear power is the most promising kind of power. I can see fusion reactors becoming popular 100years from now with a considerably cleaner operation. Until then conventional fission reactors will be used. Any country that will move away from cheap energy will find it hard to keep the industry within their nation. There are several factors that cause mega corporations to bring production plants in your country. Here are some:
Cheap Energy
Border Control
Taxes
Minimum Wage.
And while most people look at wage more than anything else. In some cases of heavy industry the two key factors are logistics (border control included if materials need to be shipped internationally) and cheap energy.
Everything has it's time. How would it be if we had rushed into nuclear as soon as we could with the old dangerous technology? No, we are still learning nuclear and if we can hold off long enough, we may not need it full scale. Something better, like as you said "fusion", supposedly safe nuclear, may be better.
I think rebuilding the old infrastructure is smart as long as we have fuel and can burn it clean.
While I'm at it - "Border Control": US and Mexico are already one country in so many ways, it is humanely irreversible. We are now accepting these facts and working on the details. I think we should send an "invitation of annexation" to the Mexican people to fuel their thoughts. (Opportunity is in US - might as well allow it to come home.)
I think the use of nuclear power after the Fukushima Daiichi disaster is, at best, not a wise move. It's going to take 40 years and $13 billion (that's only the current estimate) to clean up the mess. That's not counting the people who are radiation poisoned. All it takes for disaster isn't a tsunami, but a lack of electricity for a critical period of time. This risk/benefit tradeoff does not make sense to the Germans, or to many Japanese.
Burning it clean is a bad term to use. Nuclear there is nothing burning (oxidizing) there is nothing released to the atmosphere. The only difficulty is storage of the waste. There is a million ways to do this safely. Let's not forget that everything on earth us included are radioactive to some degree. So this is mostly cold war paranoia still in high gear. Fission and Fusion are both clean energy sources based on definition of a dirty power plant (releasing harmful materials to the environment). However fission requires a sure fund to maintain the storage after the fuel is used.
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