ATEM’07, JSME-MMD, Sep.

12-14, 2007

Development of Composite Fly Ash Pipe

Gyusang Jeong1, Samyong Won1, Jinsung Moon1

1. R&D Center, Gilgwang Greentech, Hwasung, Korea

Abstract: The majority of fly ash pipes in thermal power stations use steel pipes. This makes frequent
replacement inevitable due to severe abrasion near the hot and curved section of pipes. Recently, there
have been efforts to prevent this abrasion with lining techniques using ceramic or basalt on the inner wall
of the pipe. This study uses composite and anti-wear material to maximize the anti-abrasion effects on the
hot section of the pipe. The thickness of the abrasion layer was determined by the abrasion ratio of
material found through the experiment; the thickness of the reinforcement layer was determined by
micromechanics. Experiments were conducted on epoxy resins to test for heat and abrasion. Anti-abrasion
test using particle impingement was intended to recreate realistic conditions when abrasion occurs within
the hot section of an actual pipe. This study analyzes the abrasion ratio obtained from both the specimen
experiment and from on-site measurement and provides evidence that a combination of composites and
anti-wear agent can be used to create a fly ash pipe that is lower in costs and higher in quality than what is
used currently.

Key words: Fly ash pipe, Abrasion, Anti-wear, FRP (Fiber Reinforced Polymer), Composites

1. INTRODUCTION provides basic knowledge for those attempting to

Various research is being conducted to improve the
anti-abrasive qualities of FRP pipes. For example, in one
experiment, different combinations of the speed of the
particles passing through the pipe, angle of collision, and
interior temperature have been used in order to apply a
composite material made with glass fiber and epoxy
resins on a FGD Slurry pipes. In addition, 3 different
resins and 7 different fillers have been used for the
material and various combinations have been used to
create the three different types of fibers. Though this
particular experiment was conducted only at
temperatures below 60°C and hence temperature
conditions are different from this study, we believe that it
is relevant to this study and also complements it because
the experiment was conducted on a much greater variety
of anti-wear agent and in-depth research was done on
ductile/brittle transition[1]. There have been research that
conducted anti-abrasion experiments on composite
material specimen made of thermoplastic resin and glass
fiber. In-depth research was done on the weight ratio of
CSM and anti-wear agent affect the wear. It was found
that an increase in the proportion of anti-wear agent
decreased not only the anti-abrasion effect but also
decreased the ultimate tensile strength and elongation
ratio due to fracture. This shows that it is not desirable to
add excessive anti-wear agent in order to increase the
anti-abrasion effect[2].
There has also been a study that describes in detail
recent attempts to increase anti-abrasion effect and
shows that G-E Composites are excellent in anti-abrasion
qualities when SiC is used as the anti-wear agent[3].
Another study introduces a steel pipe system that is used
as a mine slurry transport. Since the study describes in
detail the type of abrasion, hardness, the material of the
pipe, the design of the system, and components, it
substitute some of the original materials[4]. This study
utilizes the fact there are periodic damages of pipes in
thermal power stations and conducted specimen
experiments to replace the original material of the pipe
with composites. The objective of the experiments was to
select a material and use it to create a pipe prototype that
would be tested on-site.
2. FLY ASH PIPE
Thermal power stations use coal as their main fuel to
heat the boiler. This in turn generates steam to move the
turbine, which converts thermal energy into useful
mechanical work. Coal combustions products which are
the residue resulting from the combustion of coal include
bottom ash, which sinks to the bottom and fly ash which
rises to the top. With the passage of time, abrasion or
damage occurs on the carbon-steel pipe, which is
installed to remove the fly ash. When this happens, the
system is momentarily halted and the damaged pipe is
replaced with a new pipe, which is inner-lined with
basalt or ceramic so that it is more resistant to abrasion
or damage. However, since basalt and ceramic are
expensive, thermal power stations have much interest in
less-expensive, high quality pipes and their material. The
R&D Center at Gilgwang Greentech conducted
research[5] in order to replace the material of fly ash
pipes from the original carbon-steel to FRP, while paying
close attention to the operation and boundary conditions
of fly ash pipes. This was possible owing to the R&D
Center's knowledge on bottom ash pipes acquired from a
previous project[6].
The research team found that at Youngheung Thermal
Power Station, the maximum temperature of the hot
section of the fly ash transport carbon-steel pipe was

Corresponding author:
G. Jeong, gsjeong@gilgwang.com
90°C, the maximum internal pressure was 1atm, and the Table 1. Mixture ration between anti-wear agent and
maximum speed that ash is transported was 1m/sec. It resin
was observed that, as mentioned before, that severe
abrasion occurred near the curved sections of both indoor Mixture rate(%) Mesh size Abrasion
No.
and outdoor pipes. Resin Powder (#) (∆mg)
1 70 30 46 30
2 70 30 80 25
3 70 30 100 41
4 70 30 120 41.5
5 70 30 150 74.6
6 70 30 180 110

3.1 Abrasion experiment

Carbon-Steel pipe in Fracture of pipe due to
operation abrasion
Fig. 1. Abrasion within the curved section of pipe
It is inevitable that carbon steel pipes must eventually
be replaced due to abrasion. During replacement, the
system is temporarily halted and equipment is brought in.
The length of time in between replacements is
proportionate to the anti-abrasion property or capacity of
the curved section of the pipe. In other words, the greater
the anti-abrasion effect of the curved section of the pipe,
the longer the length of time in between replacements. In
order to increase the anti-abrasion effect of the curved
section, thickness of the pipe must increase or a higher
quality material must be used. However, since both
methods results in higher costs, thermal power stations
select the thickness and material of the pipe within their
budget. Therefore, the goal of this study is to select a
material which quality is equal to or better than that of
the hot section of the original carbon steel pipe and the
determination of its thickness.
3. EXPERIMENT
The hand lay-up method was used to make the anti-
abrasive prototype, which was made from glass fiber,
epoxy resin and/or phenol resin, and anti-wear agent.
Much time was consumed in removing the blisters. The
trial-and-error method was used to find the appropriate
combination ratios in order to derive optimal anti-
abrasion quality (Table 1). Phenolic resin was initially
used for the prototype because phenol is more heat-
resistant than epoxy resin. However, using phenolic resin
for the prototype was stopped during the experiment
because not only did it cause blisters during high
temperature curing, but it even caused exfoliation.
Causes may be the incompatibility between the phenol
resin and the anti-wear agent or the chemical stability of
phenolic resin itself. Epoxy resin did not show any of
these complications and hence was selected as the
material for the prototype.
Equipment from Taber was used for the abrasion
experiment in accordance with ASTM D 4060. The
results of the experiment conducted on carbon-steel and
FRP using equal methods are shown in Table 2.
Table 2. Wear due to material difference
Abrasion(∆mg)
Remarks
Carbon-steel FRP
52 25 ASTM D 4060
3.2 Abrasion experiment with particle impingement
In a thermal power station, fly ash is transported to the
silo by a pipe. Straight and curved pipes are connected to
form a route and it is at hot and curved sections of the
pipes where abrasion occurs the most. Particle
impingement experiments were conducted in room
temperature, where fly ash was used as impinging agent
on composite specimens made with anti-wear agent
added resin. This was to identify the change in the speed
of abrasion once the original carbon-steel material was
replaced by FRP and to reflect this in the anti-wear
design of the inner-layer of the pipe. A more precise
design is necessary to simulate hot section conditions,
but this study was conducted under room temperature
and hot section conditions were ignored. The particle
impinging apparatus was developed in-house, and it was
found that the abrasion phenomena differed by the speed,
angle, and duration of the collision. The test results of
the particle impingement experiment for both the carbon-
steel and the FRP specimens, conducted under equal
conditions, are shown in Figure 3 as SEM. The table
below summarizes the results.
Table 3. Abrasion test results
Carbon-steel FRP
duration (hours) 48 48
weight before abrasion (grams) 1900 48.91
weight after abrasion (grams) 1890 46.71
 Table 4. Sharpy impact strength and heat deflection
temperature results

Material
Test case Unit Results Standard
type
Heat
ASTM
deflection 204
Carbon-steel #1 Carbon-steel #2 D648
temperature
(before) (before) FRP
Sharpy
KJ/ KS M
impact 180
㎡ 3056
strength
Sharpy
Carbon- KJ/ KS M
impact
steel ㎡ 3056
strength

Carbon-steel #1 (after) Carbon-steel #2 (after) 4. PIPE FABRICATION & INSTALLATION

4.1. Fabrication
The material for the pipe was selected by the specimen
experiment and the fabrication of the pipe followed.
1. Insert the anti-wear agent into the container.
2. Wind the resin-added fibers around the revolving
mold.
3. Spray anti-wear agent onto the surface of the
FRP #1 (before) FRP #2 (before) revolving layers in accordance with optimum ratio
predetermined.
4. Attach surface mat after winding.
5. Machine the pipe according to the design length
after curing.
6. Apply surface coating & UV inhibitor.
There were many difficulties in the process of hand lay-
up for inner-layer, where anti-abrasive qualities were
FRP #1 (after) FRP #2 (after) maximized. However, we were able to find a solution
using the special type of mixing anti-wear agent onto
Fig. 3. Comparison of carbon-steel and FRP before and filament wound layer and this method is currently patent
after abrasion pending.

Generally, significant abrasion occurs when pressure

is above a critical value and abrasion increases with
pressure. When pressure is kept constant, abrasion
increases with speed, but after reaching a critical value at
a certain speed, abrasion decreases with speed. Since
actual abrasion within the hot section of the curved pipes
at thermal power stations is caused by uncertain factors Surface coating and UV
as well, the most accurate measurement of abrasion End Plate machining
inhibiter application
would be when conducting the experiment on-site.

3.3. Experiment for Sharpy impact strength and heat Fig. 4. Fabrication of prototype FRP pipe
deflection temperature
Test results on determining the Sharpy impact strength 4.2. Installation
and heat deflection temperature are shown below. The pipe installation is currently under progress.
 confirmed in the specimen experiment that FRP pipe
surpasses the original carbon-steel pipe in anti-abrasion
capacity. However, the actual anti-abrasion capacity can
be measured only after installation on-site and after
considerable time has passed. Further research will be
conducted using on-site measurements.
1. Transport of 2. Preparation of REFERENCES
prototype installation 1. M. Jaeger, G. Schneider and C. Gauthier, Proc. Of the
2nd Biennial International Composites Africa,
Johannesburg(2004), pp. 291-303.
2. J. J. Rajesh, J. Bijwe, U.S. Tewari, J. Mater. Sci., 36
(2001), pp. 351-356.
3. B. Suresha, G. Chandramohan, J.N. Prakash, V.
Balusamy and K. Sankaranarayanasamy, J. M & M
4. Installation Char. & Engr. 5-1 (2006), pp. 87-101.
3. Installation of pipe complete 4. R. Klemm, unpublished (1999), UltraTech, Port
Washington, WI 53074-308 USA
Fig. 5. Installation of prototype FRP pipe 5. G. Jeong, Final Report, Seocheon Thermal Powerplant
(2006) (in Korean).
5. CONCLUSION 6. G. Jeong, Interim Report, Namdong Thermal
This study intended to develop an anti-abrasion Powerplant (2006) (in Korean).
capacity maximized FRP pipe by utilizing the lightness
and anti-corrosion qualities of FRP. This study