Engineering Commons^™

Experimentation Of Abrasion Erosion At High Temperature For Concentrated Solar Power Systems, Tessa Mei-Lin Fong

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Concentrated solar power (CSP) is an alternative and sustainable way to produce energy. Studies have shown that running these plants at high temperatures above 700°C can increase the thermal efficiency in heat transfer. Molten salt is usually used as the heat transfer medium but cannot be used due to its low maximum temperature and high freezing point. Running these plants at high temperature brings up the concern of erosion and oxidation. Abrasion erosion occurs through the interaction of particles and material. The goal of this research is to understand material degradation due to abrasion erosion to understand the durability of …

An Intrinsic Model For Graphite Oxidation And The Effects Of Microstructural Features On Apparent Rate, Joshua J. Kane

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The very high temperature reactor (VHTR) is the latest generation of high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGR). The VHTR has higher outlet temperatures than a traditional HTGR with outlet temperatures up to 1000 °C. This high outlet temperature permits emissions-free process heat in the form of high-quality steam for high temperature industrial applications. Moreover, the high temperatures of the reactor could potentially be used for hydrogen production from water or high efficiency electrical power production (~50% efficiency of thermal to electrical power conversion).

The VHTR is designed to employ helium as its coolant and uses graphite for its neutron moderator and as …

Kinetics And Mechanisms Of Titanium Wire Oxidation, Tanmay P. Engineer

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The kinetics and mechanisms of oxidation of titanium wire were assessed using a large test matrix in Ar-20% O₂ at 800 to 1200°C, and N₂-20% O₂ at 1000°C, for 0.5 to 24 hours. The effects of geometry on oxidation were evaluated by investigating the behavior of six high purity Ti wires with diameters varying from 50 to 2000 μm, with an objective of producing hollow TiO₂ tubes.

Oxidation behavior was characterized by measuring oxide thicknesses and morphology by optical microscopy, and the phases were characterized using a combination of SEM and TEM. The kinetics was …