High-temperature Electromagnetic Instrumentation for Metal Production (Hi-TEMP)

金属行业是英国经济的重要组成部分，直接为英国国内生产总值(GDP)贡献了100亿英镑，雇佣了数千人。特别是，作为英国唯一大量生产和消费的金属，钢铁是支撑英国经济的基础产业。钢的显微组织决定了其功能和结构性能，而热处理是控制其组织结构的关键因素。因此，测量高温下显微组织变化的能力对这一领域的研究人员至关重要，也是钢铁制造商和零部件制造商关注的重要问题。我们之前的协作工作导致了EMspecTM等商用传感器的出现，EMspecTM用于监控热轧带钢的转变，传感器上方的带钢温度高达800摄氏度，但传感器保存在室温下的水冷夹套中。在这项提议中，我们将迈出下一大步：实现一套新的电磁仪器，用于在热加工过程中动态测量金属样品和产品的性能，传感器本身在高温环境中运行。这将创建一套适用于炉子内的实验室工具，这些工具以前没有用于在高温下表征钢的特性，这是对目前测量体积和热变化的膨胀法和量热法的补充。在DSC和DSD难以解决的情况下，一些重要的显微组织变化，例如与小的热焓和/或长度变化有关的变化(例如，回复和再结晶事件、马氏体钢的回火)可能会得到解决。此外，该仪器有可能成为大规模金属生产中的一种新的常规工具，例如在连续退火生产线(CAPL)或间歇式退火炉上，以增强产品质量控制和这些工艺的节能操作。

The metals industry is a vital part of the UK economy directly contributing >£10bn to the UK GDP and employing thousands of people. In particular, as the only metal produced and consumed in volume in the UK, steel is a foundation industry underpinning the UK economy. The microstructure of a steel dictates its functional and structural properties, with thermal processing being a critical factor governing the microstructure. Therefore, the ability to measure changes in microstructure at high temperature is critical to researchers in this area and important concern for steel manufacturers and component producers. Our previous collaborative work led to commercial sensors such as EMspecTM, which is used to monitor transformation in the hot strip mill, where the strip above the sensor is at temperatures up to 800 degree C, but the sensor is kept at room temperature in a water cooled jacket. In this proposal, we will make the next big step: to realise a new suite of electromagnetic instrumentation for measuring the properties of metal samples and products dynamically during thermal processing, with THE SENSORS THEMSELVES operating in the high temperature environment. This will create a suite of lab tools fitting inside furnaces that have not been available before for characterising steel at high temperatures, complementary to current dilatometry and calorimetry, which measure volumetric and thermic changes. Some important microstructural changes such as those associated with small enthalpy and/or length changes (e.g. recovery and recrystallisation events, tempering of martensitic steels) could potentially be resolved where DSC and DSD are hard to resolve. Furthermore, the instrument can potentially become a new routinely used tool in full scale metal production, e.g., on continuous annealing production lines (CAPL) or batch annealing furnaces to enhance product quality control and energy efficient operation of these processes.