Recent UK collaborative R&D projects have developed a novel high temperature "MARBN" type alloy, IBN1, which enables a 25°C operating temperature increase in new steam power plant, and can thereby deliver major CO2 emission savings. IMPLANT is an experienced consortium which brings together industrial and academic partners to seek innovative advances in both materials and manufacturing, thus enabling commercial market success for thick section cast IBN1 pressurised components in future boiler and turbine plant. IMPLANT will pursue innovative developments in superclean materials technology, controlled microstructural development through solidification simulation, and novel heat treatment to promote grain refinement. This will maintain and extend IBN1's competitive edge over "lookalike" competitor products. In parallel, IMPLANT will develop a novel manufacturing concept for boiler plant manufacture -- that thick section IBN1 steam headers can be made by shaped casting, with improved design to minimise the risk of weld cracking in service, making a cast product highly competitive with conventional wrought and welded headers. IMPLANT will thus create a unified UK materials and manufacturing supply chain for thick-section boiler and turbine components, in a new generation of world-leading ultrasupercritical steam plant, for a projected annual global market of £15BN. This will meet the buoyant Far Eastern demand for low emission coal, gas and biomass fired plant projected by international agencies into the medium term, and will also meet longer term demand for chemical process plant, high temperature nuclear, and thermal solar energy generation. The conservatively projected 1% UK market share, worth £41M in terms of the net present value of estimated future profits, represents a x25 return on the IMPLANT investment. IBN1 will also play a key role in Western component replacement markets. Its superior strength will help current fossil plant meet the onerous flexible operation conditions which are required to support increased deployment of intermittent wind and solar generation. IBN1 is a maturing material technology now close to commercialisation -- but innovation is as vital as ever. IBN1 must compete globally on price, sentiment, quality, experience -- and its crucial technical edge. Provided IBN1 continues to advance, both in metallurgical performance and engineering application, the UK can stay ahead of the competition. Finally, IMPLANT will undertake over 500,000 machine-hours of high temperature testing to generate long term data for component design. IMPLANT will then take the key final steps to full-scale commercialisation -- IBN1 certification by European authorities, and future US ASME Code approval.

The recent TSB funded "IMPACT" project successfully developed a novel alloy, MARBN, capable of enabling a 25°C temperature and at least 2% efficiency increase, with consequent emission reductions, in new steel-based steam power plant. IMPULSE is a consortium involving the IMPACT project group with new partners to lead the industrialisation and commercial deployment of MARBN in new and retrofit boiler plant. IMPULSE will develop MARBN ingot casting, pipe manufacture and welding, together with design and performance data to enable standardisation and implementation of new build MARBN boilers. This will complement the current Innovate UK "INMAP" project on large cast MARBN turbine components, thereby providing a unified UK materials and manufacturing supply chain for a new generation of world-leading ultrasupercritical steam plant for the world market. MARBN will also play a key role in UK and European retrofit component markets, where its superior strength will enable current fossil plant to meet unprecedented demands of highly flexible operation, as required to enable rapid parallel deployment of intermittent wind and solar generation with major CO2 savings.

MarBN steels are the most promising approach to increasing the temperature capability of creep resistant martensitic steels to above 620 C. Previously, MarBN steel has been successfully developed in the TSB project, IMPACT (2010-2013) and showed significant improvements in creep strength (20-40%) compared to the current state-of-the-art steels, Grade 92 and CB2. It is essential as the next stage of material introduction to upscale and demonstrate the manufacturability of industrial components and the INMAP project will develop and validate the casting technology and NDT inspection procedures required to produce a demonstration component . The key technology for non-destructive tests (NDT) with enhanced detectability for this compositionally complex steel will be developed. Weld repair for the casting component will be applied if any surface defects exist. Finally the integrity of the casting will be characterised through extensive mechanical tests including creep and low cycle fatigue (LCF) to establish that the benefit apparent from laboratory tests is maintained in industrial components.

The key goal of IMPACT is to improve the efficiency of future steel-based coal-fired power plant, and hence reduce carbon emissions, by: (1) Improved high temperature capability of welded thick section high alloy steel components in steam plant (boiler, pipework, turbine) by development of innovative materials and processes, including upscaling from laboratory development, a pilot commercial scale "MARBN" steel cast, and a demonstration welded boiler tubing product; (2) Better understood, monitored and controlled performance of these welded components to maximise efficiency while avoiding premature weld Type IV cracking as found on current high alloy steel plant; (3) Novel advanced in-service monitoring techniques to enable plant to operate at highest temperatures and challenging design conditions without prejudice to safety: creep strain monitoring to warn against plant failure risk, semi-nondestructive miniature disc sampling and testing to identify materials at risk; (4) Improved component design capabilities linked to whole-life plant condition monitoring.