Gasification of renewable fuels is not common practice due to the high costs of technologies and the absence of reliably working refractories. Refractory degradation is of such high significance that improved refractory durability was ranked first by industry experts in a list of 20 research and development areas related to the economic viability of gasification. Therefore, for improvement of the reliability and durability of refractory linings, this work is dealing with the corrosion resistance of nine commercial refractories to a variety of emissions from potential fuels. The refractories were exposed to a gasifier-like, water vapour and alkali rich atmosphere. Exposures with a duration of 250 h produced corrosion effects that were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Furthermore, thermodynamic calculations were included to further explain the equilibrium chemistry. The results show that extremely low silica refractories are promising candidates for gasifier utilisation.
Herein, two current‐assisted techniques, arc melting and spark plasma sintering (SPS), are investigated for the synthesis of the Ti2AlC carbide MAX phase. Synthesis parameters are adjusted to improve the composition of the samples and limit the proportion of secondary phases. A 3 min heating at low power (15% of the maximum current of 180 A) on the arc melting furnace leads to a sample containing more than 71 wt% of Ti2AlC. The impact of parameters such as time, power, and generator amperage is considered. By SPS, a two‐step cycle is used to ensure the formation of the titanium aluminide compounds before reaching higher temperatures. A first dwell at 600 °C for 15 min and a second dwell at 1200 °C for 10 min, under a load of 75 MPa, leads to a sample containing more than 85 wt% of Ti2AlC. Without pressure, a single‐phase Ti2AlC sample is obtained. It is found that the application of a load is not beneficial to the formation of Ti2AlC but shifts the composition toward the formation of Ti3AlC2. The composition of this sample is further investigated by energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDXS) and wavelength‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence (WDXRF) to check the presence of impurities.
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