The U.S Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) recently selected projects to receive cost-shared R&D under the opportunity announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0002192, Extreme Environment Materials for Power Generation.
One of the projects selected is Robust Dissimilar Metal Friction Welded Spool for Enhanced Capability for Steam Power Components. General Electric Company and GE Research (Niskayuna, NY), in collaboration with EWI and Manufacturing Technology Inc. (MTI), will work to improve the durability of dissimilar metal welds (DMWs) for boiler and heat recovery steam generator applications with reduced maintenance costs and enhanced capability of coal plant cycling operations. The project will develop a durable, friction-welded dissimilar-metal spool utilizing the higher capability transition material of a nanostructured ferritic alloy and an oxidation protective coating across the joint that will be retrofittable in the existing steam fleet. Improved joint durability should enable an increase in the number of cold starts and cycling behavior of the steam fleet and reduce unplanned outages from DMW failures.
MTI is a Strategic Technology Member of EWI. To learn about their joint work in the development of low force friction welding, click here.
For more information about the DOE’s funding for extreme environment materials research, visit https://www.netl.doe.gov/node/9760.