Sicherer und wirtschaftlicher Betrieb von Kraftwerken – Ergebnis der Forschung im Bereich Werkstoffe,Auslegung und Instandhaltung

Safe and Economic Operation of Power Plants – Research Results in the Field of Materials, Design and Maintenance Components of power plants which undergo high temperatures are subjected to complex loading situations. The requirements on the used materials result from the special operation conditions of the plants and have to be adjusted to the steadily growing requirements on higher efficiency of the complete power plant as well as to those of safe and economic operation. The expenses for control and downtimes are directly connected with economic efficiency and availability. However, in case of new procedures or components it is not possible to revert to the existing know‐how. Different failure mechanisms than known before can occur. The same goes for the load situation. Therefore the knowledge base has to be extended to in‐advance or even parallely running scientific examinations that life assessment and maintenance strategies can be applied which guarantee the operational reliability and the efficiency of the plant. The main emphasis of these F&E works has to be put on condition monitoring based on actual operational data, the standard materials’ and component’s behaviour (deformation, damage and failure behaviour) in connection with design of components and the related material laws. In the framework of applied AVIF projects, following problems are handled:. – qualification of materials by determinating parameters related to practise. – optimal design of components by making available material laws and numerical tools. – economic manufacturing of components by qualifying processing methods such as welding. – The results can be transferred to concepts for safe and economic operation of power plants, especially for newly introduced materials for which there is no operational experience available.     

Oberflächenspannungsmesstechnik für den Prozesseinsatz

Using Surface Tension Measurement in Applications When cleaning surfaces it is crucial for the process stability that the optimum surfactant concentration is maintained. The concentration of free surfactants can be measured by determining the surface tension. SITA Messtechnik has developed an innovative sensor based on the bubble pressure method. This sensor makes it possible to continuously measure surface tension with a high reliability. With this application for monitoring cleaning baths the potential to save money arises in regard to the use of raw materials, waste disposal and the costs resulting from undiscovered production failures.     

In vitro assessment and monitoring of the implant titanium materials – physiological environment interactions

Long‐term monitoring (for 8000 exposure hours) of titanium and its implant alloys (Ti‐5Al‐4V, Ti‐6Al‐4Fe) interactions with Ringer's solutions of different pH‐values (2.5, 4.35, 6.98), simulating various conditions that can appear at the contact between implant and tissues was carried out in this paper. All data were statistics treated using Medcalc program. In vitro electrochemical behaviour of titanium and its alloys reveals their self‐passivation in Ringer's solutions. Monitoring of the open circuit potentials with time and pH have shown that the passive films on the implant materials studied were very stable for all tested periods. Interactions due to the non‐uniformity of the physiological electrolyte pH can not produce any form of local corrosion. The tested materials present low corrosion rates which attest their very good stability for 8000 exposure hours in simulated biological environment. Surface topography characterisation using atomic force microscopy (AFM) data, correlated with the electrochemical parameters, were arguments for the stability of the samples in studied bioliquids.