A New Method for the Experimental Evaluation of High-Temperature Erosion-Corrosion in Fluidized Bed Waste Incineration Conditions

The outer surface of heat exchanger tubes that work under fluidized bed waste or biomass incineration is exposed to severe high-temperature erosion-corrosion (E-C). To evaluate the behavior and enhance the service life of the tubes, the real service conditions ought to be simulated in the laboratory. In this study a test rig with a fluidized bed of hot sand was designed and manufactured to expose nickel-based SFNi4 alloy to high-temperature E-C. In order to increase the corrosiveness of the environment, the silicon oxide sand was mixed with 0, 0.5 and 1 wt.% of a mixture of NaCl and KCl salts with 1:1 molar ratio. The erosive conditions of the environment were changed by altering air flow rate from 20 to 25 L/min and changing the sand incident angle from 45 to 90 degrees. The rate of material removal was calculated by measuring the thickness of each sample before and after the test. After each experiment, the surface and cross-section of specimens were studied using SEM and EDS analysis. Finally, the optimum E-C parameters to ensure actual industrial conditions were obtained.