The efficiency of steam reforming depends strongly on the creep resistance of the material used for the reformer tubes. The currently most widely used reformer tube material is HP40 (25 Cr, 35Ni, 40 Fe and 0.4C) austenitic stainless steel. A further improvement in the creep resistance of HP40 is needed for efficiency improvement and for a cost reduction in steam reforming. In order to develop a next generation creep resistant alloy, three HP40-based alloys, namely Alloy A, B and C, with different chemical compositions and/or solidification rate, were studied. Previous tests at 1000 oC and 40 MPa have shown that the creep properties of Alloy C are slightly better than those of Alloy B, both being significantly better than Alloy A. The microstructures of three alloys, under as-cast, crept and heat treated conditions, have been analysed so as to understand their relative creep performance. The small intragranular M23C6 may have contributed significantly to the smaller creep rate, and thus a longer creep life for Alloy B and Alloy C as compared with Alloy A. A microstructure-based climb-glide bypass creep model was described to predict the creep behaviour of HP40. Suggestion on the next generation HP40 alloy has been made.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:715607 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Wang, Minshi |
| Publisher | University of Birmingham |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/7463/ |
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