Experimental and numerical analysis of the time-dependent scale formation of 1.4307 stainless steel in various air–fuel and oxy–fuel combustion atmospheres

The enrichment or substitution of air with oxygen is a key strategy for increasing efficiency and reducing emissions during combustion in industrial reheating processes. While some studies have already focused on the various combustion effects and emission characteristics, research is lagging behind on one of the most critical aspects: the high-temperature oxidation behavior under real combustion conditions. This study provides the first direct comparison of 1.4307 stainless steel exposed to the flue gas of CH 4 /Air and CH 4 /O 2 combustion environments by carrying out extensive measurements at different temperature levels and residual oxygen contents. To replicate realistic process conditions, the results were obtained in a semi-industrial lab furnace, whose burner was used in low-swirl mode for air operation and high-impulse mode for oxy–fuel combustion. The samples used prevented complete carburization through sufficient base material and also took corner effects into account. The study introduces a novel derived Arrhenius-type model that explicitly consider gas composition and temperature at the sample surface. It shows excellent agreement in high temporal and spatial resolution simulations. In all cases the limiting kinetics were between linear and parabolic behavior and temperature had the most significant influence. The oxidizer change to pure oxygen resulted in 49% more specific weight gain at 1200 ° C sample temperature and 35% at 1300 ° C . Different residual oxygen levels affected the results with air, while nothing was detectable with oxygen. H 2 O and CO 2 were identified as the dominant reaction partners with the steel. These findings provide new insights into material degradation under oxy–fuel combustion atmospheres and the model offers a simple method of calculating the specific mass gain under relevant influencing variables. • Extensive measurements in a semi-industrial furnace. • The alloy showed a mixture of limiting linear and parabolic kinetics. • The transition from CH 4 /Air to CH 4 /O 2 combustion had a significant influence. • Excellent representation by the Arrhenius-type model, integrated in CFD simulations.