The Initial Assessment of the Possibility of Simulation Fire Standard Curve in the Electric Furnace with the Assessment of Chemical Composition Changes in Steel after Cooling Phase

• Published in: Metals (Basel ) 2024-06, Vol.14 (6), p.707
• Main Authors: Kubicka, Katarzyna, Szczecina, Michał, Suckert, Mariusz, Suckert, Tomasz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Batch type furnaces; Carbon footprint; Chemical composition; Cooling; Ecological footprint; electric furnace; Electric furnaces; Electric resistance furnaces; Energy consumption; fire exposition; Furnaces; Investigations; LIBS; Low carbon steels; Mechanical properties; Phase transitions; standard fire curve; steel samples; Temperature; Tensile strength; Yield stress
• ISSN: 2075-4701; 2075-4701
• DOI: 10.3390/met14060707

The article focuses on analyzing changes in the chemical composition of steel samples after the cooling phase. A few distinct types of samples made of St3S steel were heated in an electric resistance furnace for 1 h. The temperature in the following minutes of the furnace work was programmed to reflect the standard fire curve defined in the Eurocode in the best possible way. The box-type electric furnace was used. There were three series of samples, and each of them was cooled down in diverse ways: (a) in the water, (b) in the polymer cooling medium AQUA-QUENCH® 320, and (c) in the furnace. After that, the chemical composition of diverse types of samples with various kinds of cooling was checked. This task was realized using a laser elementary analysis microscope with the EA-300 head. The investigation allowed the authors to draw the following conclusions: the electric furnace may be used to simulate an increase in temperature with fire duration according to standard fire curve only in the phase of fully developed fire situation; the EA-300 head for laser elementary analysis allows checking of the chemical composition of investigated elements very quickly (in a few seconds).