Effect of Partial Pressure of Oxygen and Activity of Carbon on the Corrosion of High Temperature Alloys in s-CO2 Environment

Over the course of the past couple decades, increased concern has grown on the topics of climate change and energy consumption, focusing primarily on carbon emissions. With modernization of countries like India and China, there are no signs of slowing of global carbon emissions and energy usage. To combat this, new more efficient power conversion cycles must be utilized. The Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (s-CO2) Brayton cycle promises increased efficiency and smaller component sizes. These cycles will push the limits of current high temperature materials, and must be studied before implementation is made possible.;A large collection of high temperature CO2 corrosion research has been reported over the last thirty years. While many of the studies in the past have focused on corrosion in research grade (RG) (99.999%) and industrial grade (IG) (99.5%) CO2, very few have focused on studying the specific effects that impurities can have on the corrosion rates and mechanisms. The work described in this document will lay the foundation for advancement of s-CO2 corrosion studies.;A testing facility has been constructed and was designed as an open flow s-CO2 loop with a fluid residence time of 2 hours. This facility is capable of heating up to 750°C at pressures up to 20 MPa. Instrumentation for monitoring oxygen and carbon monoxide concentration were added to make measurements both before and after sample exposure, for the duration of testing.;Testing of both model and commercial alloys was conducted for temperatures ranging from 450--750°C at 20MPa for 1,000 hours. The effect of the partial pressure of oxygen (pO2) was studied by adding 100ppm of O2 to RG CO2 during testing. The activity of carbon (aC) was studied by adding 1%CO to RG CO2. Each environment greatly altered the mechanisms and rates of oxidation and carburization on each material exposed to the environment.