ASM Failure Analysis Case Histories: Power Generating Equipment
Failure Analysis of Brass Tubes
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Published:2019
Abstract
Admiralty brass (Alloy C44300) cooling tubes which were part of a heat exchanger in a turbogenerator that provided electricity to a manufacturing plant failed. A mixture of non-recirculating city and “spring pit” water flowed through bundles of tubes to cool the oil in which they are immersed. However, a problem developed when several of the brass tubes cracked transversely, allowing cooling water to mix with the oil. The presence of a tensile stress, intergranular cracks, and a corrosion product suggested the tube failures resulted from stress-corrosion cracking. The main corrosion product was cupric hydroxychloride. In addition to switching to...
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Member Sign InSamuel J. Lawrence, Richard L. Bodnar, Failure Analysis of Brass Tubes, ASM Failure Analysis Case Histories: Power Generating Equipment, ASM International, 2019, https://doi.org/10.31399/asm.fach.power.c9001521
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