Test rig for evaluation of protective coating against molten aluminum

Abstract: Today, many methods test the lifetime of coatings, but none focus on testing protective coatingsin a non-oxidizing environment. Hence, this master thesis developed a method to test the life-time of a protective coating against molten aluminum. The thesis is developed by investigating different parameters that affect the lifetime of the coating, and efforts to replicate the parameters in the concept are made. Several different concepts are compared and analyzed using the PUGH matrix. Finally, the selected concept is designed in 3D modeling software. Several iterations for each component are done, and the final conceptual design is presented in the report. The concept is validated using CFD analysis which helps us calculate the time required to complete one cycle of heating and cooling of the PCM. The calculations show that the conceptual test rig performs 16 times accelerated test, which implies running the test rig for one full year will give performance results of the protective coating for 6 years.