Development of an Open-source Alloy Selection and Lifetime Assessment Tool for Structural Components in Concentrating Solar Power

This project is developing a cost-effective, open-source, alloy selection and lifetime prediction tool to account for stress, fatigue, and corrosion failures of structural and heat-exchange materials in concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) technologies. The tool will incorporate the temperature, alloy composition, alloy microstructure, operational requirements, and component thickness on the mechanical and corrosion behavior of iron and nickel alloy-based CSP materials. The lab will use extensive data sets to validate the tool and select the lowest-cost material for specified CSP components.