Innovative surface treatment and coatings for thermal power plant components

英国是世界上第一个通过法律在2050年前结束其对全球变暖的影响的主要经济体。在这30年的时间跨度内，将通过促进植树造林、碳捕获和储存，以及在提高现有发电厂效率的同时过渡到可再生能源，来实现这一雄心勃勃的零净排放目标，但同时，由于太阳能和风能供应的间歇性，向可再生能源的过渡导致对现有发电厂的总体需求较低，但同时这种需求集中在较短和间断的时间范围内。因此，设计为连续运行的电厂在间歇运行时要求增加灵活性，使某些部件意外频繁地发生热循环，导致部件失效。本博士项目的目标是通过表面处理和涂层来提高电厂使用部件的性能和寿命，以了解热循环、腐蚀和磨损导致的失效机理。该项目将专注于开发和测试一系列合适的表面处理方法，通过先进的涂层沉积，通过一种新型的悬浮等离子喷涂，用于高温部件，包括阀门、热交换器和锅炉部件。该项目将涉及试验台的调试，需要设计、组装和计算机控制必要的部件。该试验台将使我们能够了解BF2RA工业合作伙伴告知的实际服务操作条件下的涂层性能。材料表征将包括高分辨率扫描和透射电子显微镜和拉曼光谱等先进技术。

The UK was the first major economy in the world to pass laws to end its contribution to global warming by 2050. This ambitious target towards zero net emissions, or "carbon neutrality", will be pursued in this 30 years timespan through promoting reforestation, carbon capture and storage, but also by transitioning to renewable energy while enhancing current power plants efficiency.The transition towards renewable energy leads an overall lower demand to existing power plants, but at the same time this demand is concentrated within shorter and intermitted time frames, due to the intermittent nature of for instance solar and wind energy supply. Therefore, power plants which were designed to operate continuously are being demanded increased flexibility in intermittent operation, posing some parts to unexpectedly frequent thermal cycling leading to parts failure.The goal of this PhD project is to improve the performance and life span of components used in power plants by means of surface treatment and coatings to understand the failure mechanisms induced by thermal cycling, corrosion and wear. This project will focus on developing and testing a range of suitable surface treatments by advanced coating deposition through a novel suspension plasma spray for high temperature components including valves, heat exchangers and boiler parts. The project will involve the commissioning of testing rigs, requiring design, assembling and computer controlling of the necessary components. The test rig will allow us to understand coating performance under real service operating conditions as informed by BF2RA industrial partners. Material characterisation will include advanced techniques as high-resolution scanning and transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy.