DOE Office of Fossil Energy

NDE for Structural and Functional Materials

This work is part of the overall materials technology development within the area of Fossil Energy Advanced Research and Technology Development. The focus is on development of NDE methods for structural and functional ceramic materials used in fossil energy systems.

During the past two years we have been working on NDE technology for high-temperature membranes that would allow oxygen and hydrogen production from coal combustion. These separation membranes must be of high uniformity and structural integrity and must have tight seals at joints. As production of these membranes comes closer to reality, NDE methods are necessary to assure uniformity and product reliability. This work is being conducted in cooperation with Los Alamos National Laboratory and Ceramatec Inc. The NDE efforts have been directed toward assessing three-dimensional (3D) X-ray computed tomography using the microimaging station at the Argonne Advanced Photon Source (APS). In cooperation with the University of Chicago, sections of various H2 separation membranes have been studied. The primary emphasis was on the joints necessary to make the H2 and O2 separation membranes feasible. The results from the APS microimaging station clearly show that this method has the spatial resolution necessary for these types of analyses.

NDE for Oxide-Based Ceramic Composites

The work in this effort is directed toward developing NDE technology for oxide-based ceramic matrix composites for use in advanced fossil energy systems. Such materials offer lower costs and potentially longer life. However, oxides are known to be susceptible to thermal shock and creep. Thus, high-temperature thermal protection systems have been developed. The detection of potential problems such as delaminations and materials degradation thus becomes important. This work is being done in cooperation with Siemens-Westinghouse Power Systems and Composite Optics Corp. Special NDE technologies being developed include time-dependent heating for thermal imaging, air-coupled ultrasonics, and regional X-ray computed tomography.

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