Examples of Industial Use of MTDATA

MTDATA with its associated databases is a versatile tool for materials R&D. Here are just a few of the ways in which industry is exploiting its potential.

Continuous casting of steel

Corus use MTDATA to study the effect of segregation on microstructure. The diagram to the right shows a Scheil plot of the segregation of components in a stainless steel, calculated by coupling a simple process model to MTDATA.

Calculated thermodynamic properties, such as heat capacities, can also be plotted out or tabulated, as shown to the left. These can be used in other commercially available software packages for modelling the solidification of an alloy in a particular mould and predicting the extent of shrinkage.

Pyrometallurgical extraction

MTDATA is being used at NPL to develop thermodynamic models for slags and in the modelling of a variety of pyrometallurgical processes. The diagram is one of a series of quaternary liquidus projections produced for users of the ISF blast furnace process for extraction of zinc and lead.

Pollution control

Johnson Matthey has used MTDATA to investigate the subtleties of how the composition of vehicle exhaust catalysts affects performance under changing conditions which span all types of running including start-up. Calculations have shown that equilibration of combustion products at low temperatures will suppress CO and NO_x, but, without suitable catalyst modification, may result in the formation of H₂S. The diagram below shows changes in the levels of various sulphur-containing species in the gas phase as temperature is increased.