Construction and testing of a flue-gas corrosion probe

The selection of suitable materials for industrial, waste-heat- recovery systems requires assessment of corrosion of materials in various flue-gas environments. Such assessments involve exposing candidate materials to high-temperature flue gases and analyzing the effects of the exposure conditions. Because corrosion is related to flue-gas chemical composition and temperature, variations in temperature complicate the determination of corrosion rates and corrosion mechanisms. Conversely, a relatively constant temperature allows a more accurate determination of the effects of exposure conditions. For this reason, controlled-temperature flue-gas corrosion probes were constructed and tested for exposure tests of materials. A prototype probe consisted of a silicon carbide tube specimen, supporting hardware, and instrumentation for controlling temperature by internal heating and cooling. An advanced probe included other tubular specimens. Testing of the probes in an industrial-type furnace at a nominal flue-gas temperature of 1200{degree}C revealed that temperature control was inadequate. The cooling mode imposed a substantial axial-temperature gradient on the specimens; while the heating mode imposed a smaller gradient, the heating capacity was very limited. 10 refs., 10 figs., 2 tabs.