Optimisation of next generation galvanising pot hardware

连续镀锌（CG）是一种非常重要的制造工艺，用于制造汽车面板、建筑覆层、白色家电等。它包括热处理和将带钢浸入锌合金熔液中，速度高达180米/分钟。现代汽车级镀锌线越来越注重优化镀锌线硬件，以提高产量，同时保持非常严格的质量要求。一系列浸入式轧辊引导带钢进出熔融金属浴。这些轧辊必须在这种具有挑战性的环境中生存，并以最小的振动运行，这对镀锌涂层质量是有害的。镀锌生产线能够连续运行长达五周，之后必须更换硬件。因此，锅五金本身可以认为是生产和质量的瓶颈；如果硬件组件的操作能力得到提高，财政激励和硬件寿命的增加将是显著的。该项目的重点是考虑下一代材料，包括金属和陶瓷，用于塔塔钢铁欧洲镀锌槽的浸没硬件组件。该项目旨在开发使用最新一代材料的锅硬件，以最大限度地减少与熔融金属的反应性。关键的学习目标将是理解材料和液态金属之间的基本反应，并尝试将这些反应抑制到虚拟惰性的程度。这将创造一种适用于新型硬件和滚动轴承设计以及镀锌罐中其他硬件涂层应用的材料。研究活动将主要集中在有前途的材料的实验测试上，在熔融锌中进行静态浸入测试。该项目还将包括使用斯旺西大学定制的新型磨损测试设备对部件进行全尺寸动态磨损测试。对于静态浸泡和动态磨损测试，该项目将进行材料表征，以分析材料和相互作用。

Continuous Galvanising (CG) is an incredibly important manufacturing process used to make car panels, building cladding, white goods and much more. It involves the heat treatment and dipping of strip steel into a bath of molten zinc alloy at speeds of up to 180m/min. Modern automotive grade galvanising lines are increasingly focused on optimising galvanising line hardware to deliver increasing production yields whilst maintain very stringent quality requirements.A series of submerged rolls guide the strip steel in and out of the molten metal bath. These rolls have to survive in this challenging environment and operate with minimal vibrations, which is detrimental to the galvanised coating quality. The galvanising line is able to continually operate for up to a five-week period, after which the hardware must be replaced. Therefore, the pot hardware itself can be considered a bottleneck to production and quality; if the operational capacity of hardware components were increased the financial incentive and hardware lifetime increases would be significant.The focus of this project is to consider the next generation of materials, both metallic and ceramic for use as submerged hardware components in Tata Steel Europe's galvanising baths. The project aims to develop pot hardware which will use the latest generation of materials that minimise reactivity with the molten metal spelter. The key learning objectives will be to understand the fundamental reactions between materials and the liquid metal, and to try and suppress these reactions to the point of virtual inertness. This will create a material suitable for novel hardware and roll bearing designs and other hardware coating applications in the galvanising pot.Research activities will focus primarily on experimental testing of prospective materials with static immersion testing inside molten zinc. The project will also involve full scale dynamic wear testing of components using Swansea University's bespoke new wear testing equipment. For both static immersion and dynamic wear testing, the project will conduct material characterisation to analyse materials and interactions.