CO-ORDINATION OF EUROPEAN RESEARCH IN STRUCTURAL MATERIALS FOR POWER GENERATION EQUIPMENT Christof Sommitsch a , Rod Vanstone b , Torsten-Ulf Kern c , Peter Barnard d , Peter Mayr e , Rachel Thomson f , Alina Agüero g a Institute for Materials Science and Welding, Graz University of Technology, Kopernikusgasse 24, 8010 Graz, Austria, christof.sommitsch@tugraz.at b Alstom Power, Newbold Road, Rugby, CV21 2NH, UK, rod.vanstone@power.alstom.com c Siemens AG, Energy Sector, Rheinstr. 100, 45478 Muelheim an der Ruhr, Germany, torsten-ulf.kern@siemens.com d Doosan Babcock, Birmingham New Road, Tipton, West Midlands, DY4 8YY, UK, peter.barnard@doosan.com e Institut für Füge- und Montagetechnik, Technische Universität Chemnitz, Reichenhainer Strasse 70, 09126 Chemnitz, Germany, peter.mayr@mb.tu-chemnitz.de f School of Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering, Department of Materials, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 3TU, UK, R.C.Thomson@lboro.ac.uk g Área de Materiales Metálicos, INTA, Ctra. de Ajalvir Km 4, 28850 Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain, agueroba@inta.es Abstract Over the last 25-30 years, the main focus for development of improved steels for power generation equipment (boilers, steam turbines, pipework systems) has been the concerted actions of COST 501, 522 and 536. These actions have been very successful. Steels were developed and have been applied to critical components such as boiler tubing, pipework and turbine castings and rotor forgings. These enabled an increase in steam parameters from 540-565ºC to 600-620ºC, bringing benefits in reduced fuel costs and lower emissions. A new framework for co-ordination of this effort was launched in 2012. KMM-VIN (Knowledge-based Multi- functional Materials Virtual Institute), is a legal entity established in 2007 with membership of mainly academic institutes. In 2012 it experienced significant expansion as around 40 participants, including many industrial companies from the power generation industry and its supply chain, with long history of working together within the COST Actions, joined the organisation. An Energy Materials Working Group (WG2) has been formed and has adopted a work programme for the further improvement of steels for power generation plant. One of the main goals for this work programme EMEP (Engineered Micro- and nanostructures for Enhanced long-term high-temperature materials Performance) is the industrial-scale demonstration of components using the advanced MARBN steel concept, steels with potential to allow increase of operating temperatures from 600-620ºC to 650ºC. The authors of this paper are leading work topics within this work programme. In the same way that the COST Concerted Actions provided a framework for collaboration between projects funded by many different agencies, WG2 has already fostered collaboration between projects funded by the European Commission Framework Programme, e.g MACPLUS and POEMA, projects funded by national governments, e.g the UK IMPACT project, projects funded by academic funding agencies, e.g EPSRC, and projects funded privately by WG2 industrial partners. Keywords: Steam power plant, efficiency improvement, alloy design, microstructure modelling and process simulation, ferritic-martensitic steels, steam oxidation, coatings