This book highlights the qualitative and quantitative sequential changes in microstructure of P91 steel under various stress and temperature conditions. The P91 alloy is an established material used under elevated temperature and stress in the components of thermal power plants. Temperature and stress levels for laboratory experimentation have been selected based on the true operating condition of a boiler. This book describes both full length as well as interrupted tests that were performed under given parameters. Subsequently, the microstructures, bulk hardness and NDE parameters (magnetic and non-linear ultrasonic) have been evaluated. For reliable data, the microstructures have been observed at different regions of creep exposed samples by different characterization techniques. This has been further followed by drawing co-relation between specific features like precipitate size variation with creep strain / creep time and so on. Given the contents, this book will be a useful reference for researchers and professionals working in the area of materials especially in thermal power plants.

Microwaves are well-recognized mode of heating material. On account of its fast and relatively uniform heating, microwaves have been envisaged as an ideal means to consolidate particulate materials through sintering. The exact nature of microwave- metal interaction has still not been elucidated in detail. Furthermore, a systematic evaluation of microwave sintered compact with those processed in a conventional furnace is as yet lacking. This study attempts to address these aspects. The first part critically compares the temperature distribution within cylindrical samples heated in both the furnace. It also investigates the effect of varying particle size and porosity on the heating behavior of a metallic particulate compact in a 2.45GHz multimode microwave furnace. The second part systematically investigates the efficacy of microwave vis a vis conventional sintering for a range of multi-component systems. The scope of these studies has been restricted to tungsten and its alloys. This book should help shed some light on this new and exciting technology, and should be especially useful to students and professionals in microwave processing.