Análisis de Fatiga Térmica en Acero Inoxidable 316l para aplicación en energía solar concentrada a alta temperatura.

Abstract

Clean or renewable energies act in a better way towards the environment, since they help to reduce the greenhouse gases that oil-dependent industries emit. Central tower Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants are a technology that promises a future. The use of thermosiphons in the solar receiver of these plants is in the research phase due to its high efficiency as a heat exchanger at high temperatures. An analysis of thermal fatigue in 316L steel for application in high-temperature solar concentration energy was carried out, thus simulating the conditions to which a thermosiphon is subjected in how many temperature changes, given by the difference in solar radiation received. An induction furnace was built allowing the temperature of steel samples to be quickly raised to 700°C and allowed to cool in the environment up to 550°C for 500 cycles. Hardness and metallographic tests were performed on 316L stainless steel without being thermally fatigued and on 3 thermally fatigued samples. They were compared and no changes in their hardness and microstructure were lost. The implementation of 316L stainless steel in two-phase sodium thermosiphons could not be determined in the absence of thermal fatigue with a higher temperature range and a greater number of cycles.