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According to the Standard ASTM No D6743-11, the thermal stability is the heat resistance or the capacity to preserve all the main physical properties despite the heating.
The thermal degradation of the working fluid occurs when high temperature breaks the molecular bonds, forming new compounds which can alterate the original fluid and system performance. We test innovative working fluids and mixtures for power generation and conditioning systems to assess their thermal stability limits.
The method consists on the analysis of the deviations in saturation pressure curves that may occur after subjecting the fluid to thermal stress tests at increasing temperature. The set of activities that define a thermal stability test can be grouped into four steps:
Set up of the test circuit and fluid loading
Evaluation of the reference fluid or mixture beahviour (vapor pressure or isochoric line)
Thermal stress test in an electric oven
Measurement of the aged fluid or mixture behaviour curve and comparison to the reference value
The experimental apparatus consist of two main sections:
A test circuit where the fluid is loaded, tested and characterized through temperature and pressure measurements;
Two temperature controlled environments that consist of a thermostatic bath for vapour pressure measurements and a muffle furnace for isothermal stress tests.
The measurement setup is composed of a cylinder containing the sample fluid to be tested, a type K thermocouple for fluid temperature measurements, one or more pressure transducers.
In collaboration with the UniBs Metallurgy Group, we can even test the compatibility between the fluids and the metals used for the manufacturing of the turbo-machinery and heat exchangers.
Contact us for more information about our test, capabilities and tariffs or visit this link
Additional info
Location: Department of Industrial and Mechanical Engineering
Laboratory Director: Prof. Paolo Giulio Iora
Technical Staff: Modestino Savoia
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