Corrosion Behavior of Bubble Tubes in Glass Curing Furnaces Under the Heat–Flow Coupling Effect

Guo, Heyi; Zheng, Ce; Li, Yingjv; Huang, Qiuyan; Zhao, Qingbin; Sun, Minhang; Yang, Yuansheng

doi:10.3390/ma19112429

This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.

Open AccessArticle

Corrosion Behavior of Bubble Tubes in Glass Curing Furnaces Under the Heat–Flow Coupling Effect

by

Heyi Guo

¹,

Ce Zheng

^2,*,

Yingjv Li

²,

Qiuyan Huang

^2,*,

Qingbin Zhao

¹,

Minhang Sun

¹ and

Yuansheng Yang

²

¹

Verification Technology Center, ‌China Nuclear Power Engineering Co., Ltd.,‌‌ Beijing 100840, China

²

Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China

^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Materials 2026, 19(11), 2429; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19112429 (registering DOI)

Submission received: 10 April 2026 / Revised: 20 May 2026 / Accepted: 2 June 2026 / Published: 5 June 2026

(This article belongs to the Section Corrosion)

Download Versions Notes

Abstract

The bubble tube of a glass curing furnace was subjected to extreme heat–flow coupling conditions for a long time due to the scouring of melt flow caused by the gas flow bubbling in a high-temperature molten glass environment at 1150 °C, resulting in severe corrosion and structural failure. This paper conducts post-service sampling analysis of an Inconel 690 bubble tube, and systematically studies its corrosion morphologies, product distribution and corrosion mechanisms. The results show that the outer wall of the bubble tube undergoes an oxidation reaction in the high-temperature molten glass to form a Cr-rich oxide layer. However, local spalling occurs under the scouring of the molten glass flow, resulting in continuous corrosion. The corrosion behavior shows obvious asymmetry. The average corrosion rate near the bubble flow side (the inner curve side, 0.118 mm/day) is significantly higher than that on the outer side (0.051 mm/day) due to the higher partial pressure of oxygen and greater flow rate of molten glass. It reveals the synergistic mechanism by which fluid scouring continuously removes the protective Cr-rich oxide scale, thereby accelerating the oxidation–erosion cycle under the heat-flow coupling effect. The results provided experimental evidence and theoretical reference for the material optimization and life prediction of bubble tubes.

Keywords: vitrification process; Joule-heated ceramic melter; bubbling tube; thermo-flow coupling; high-temperature corrosion

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Guo, H.; Zheng, C.; Li, Y.; Huang, Q.; Zhao, Q.; Sun, M.; Yang, Y. Corrosion Behavior of Bubble Tubes in Glass Curing Furnaces Under the Heat–Flow Coupling Effect. Materials 2026, 19, 2429. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19112429

AMA Style

Guo H, Zheng C, Li Y, Huang Q, Zhao Q, Sun M, Yang Y. Corrosion Behavior of Bubble Tubes in Glass Curing Furnaces Under the Heat–Flow Coupling Effect. Materials. 2026; 19(11):2429. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19112429

Chicago/Turabian Style

Guo, Heyi, Ce Zheng, Yingjv Li, Qiuyan Huang, Qingbin Zhao, Minhang Sun, and Yuansheng Yang. 2026. "Corrosion Behavior of Bubble Tubes in Glass Curing Furnaces Under the Heat–Flow Coupling Effect" Materials 19, no. 11: 2429. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19112429

APA Style

Guo, H., Zheng, C., Li, Y., Huang, Q., Zhao, Q., Sun, M., & Yang, Y. (2026). Corrosion Behavior of Bubble Tubes in Glass Curing Furnaces Under the Heat–Flow Coupling Effect. Materials, 19(11), 2429. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19112429

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Menu

Corrosion Behavior of Bubble Tubes in Glass Curing Furnaces Under the Heat–Flow Coupling Effect

Abstract

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI