Search Results for Tubings

A low-carbon steel (St35.8) tube in a phthalic anhydride reactor system failed. Visual and stereomicroscopic examination of fracture surfaces revealed heavy oxide/deposits on the outer surface of the tube, tube wall thinning in the area of the fracture, and discolorations and oxides/deposits on the inner surface. Cross sections from the fracture surface were metallographically examined, and the deposits were analyzed. It was determined that the tube had thinned from the inner surface because of a localized overheating condition (probably resulting from a runaway chemical reaction within the tube) and then fractured, which allowed molten salt to flow into the tube.

The causes of cracking of an as-drawn 90-10 cupronickel tube during mechanical working were investigated to determine the source of embrittlement. Embrittlement was sporadic, but when present was typically noted after the first process anneal. Microstructural and chemical analyses were performed on an embrittled section and on a section from a different lot that did not crack during forming. The failed section showed an intergranular fracture path. Examination of the fracture surfaces revealed the presence of tellurium at the grain boundaries. The source of the tellurium was thought to be contamination occurring in the casting process that became concentrated in the recycled skimmings. It was recommended that future material specifications for skimmings and for externally obtained scrap copper include a trace analysis for tellurium.

Three radiant heating element tubes from an aluminum holding furnace failed after a few months of service. One side of each of the tubes had disintegrated, leaving large holes and thinned cross sections. Microstructural analysis showed that the surface of the tube had been oxidized along the grain boundaries and had extensive precipitation inside the grains. Chemical analysis indicated that the steel used for the tubes was AISI type 316 stainless steel Specifications for the tubes had called for AISI type 310S to be used. It was recommended that other tubes made from the same batch of steel sheet be checked.

Waterwall tube failure samples removed from a coal- and oil-fired boiler in service for 12 years exhibited localized underdeposit corrosion and hydrogen damage. EDS and XRD revealed that bulk internal deposits collected from the tubes contained metallic copper which can accelerate corrosion through galvanic effects and can promote hydrogen damage. Ultrasonic testing was recommended to locate tubes with severe gouging and corrosion, which are suspect locations for hydrogen damage. The source of the copper should be identified and future chemical cleaning of the boiler should address its presence in the waterwall tubes.

Severe pitting was found on the internal surfaces of SA-210 Grade C waterwall tubing of a coal-fired boiler at a cogeneration facility. Metallographic examination showed the pits to be elliptical, having an undercut morphology with supersurface extensions,. a type of pitting characteristic of acidic attack. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscope revealed the presence of chlorine in the pit deposits, indicating that the pitting was promoted by underdeposit chloride attack. The presence of copper in deposits on the internal surface of the tubing may have acted as a secondary factor. Acidic conditions may have formed during a low-pH excursion that reportedly occurred several years prior. To prevent future failures, severely damaged tubing must be replaced. Internal deposit buildup must be removed by chemical cleaning to prevent further pitting. Water quality needs continued monitoring and maintenance to ensure that another low-pH excursion does not occur.

After some 87,000 h of operation, failure took place in the bend of a steam pipe connecting a coil of the third superheater of a steam generator to the outlet steam collector. The unit operated at 538 deg C and 135 kPa, producing 400 t/h of steam. The 2.25Cr-1Mo steel pipe in which failure took place was 50.8 mm in diam with a nominal wall thickness of 8 mm. It connected to the AISI 321 superheater tube by means of a butt weld and was one of 46 such parallel connecting tubes. The Cr-Mo tubing was situated outside the heat transfer zone of the superheater. The overall sequence of failure involved overheating of the Cr-Mo outlet tubes, heavy oxidation, oxide cracking on thermal cycling, thermal fatigue cracking plus oxidation, creep-controlled crack growth, and rapid plastic deformation and rupture. This failure was indicative of excess temperature of the steam coming from the heat transfer zone of the coil. It showed that many damage mechanisms may combine in the transition from fracture initiation to final failure. The presence of grain boundary sliding as an indication of creep damage was useful in the characterization of the stress level as high and showed that the process of creep was not operative throughout the life of the equipment.

Failure occurred in a steel superheater tube in a power plant. The tube was specified as ASTM A 213 grade T 22, and the reported operating conditions were 13 MPa (1900 psi) at 482 deg C (900 deg F). The tube carried superheated steam and was coal fired. Investigation (visual inspection, 2% nital etched 297x images, chemical analysis, and SEM fractographs) supported the conclusion that the superheater tube failed as a result of long-term overheating. Substantial creep damage reduced the strength of the tube to the point that overload failure occurred. No recommendations were made.

One tube in a watertube boiler developed leakage from a perforation. The external surface was covered with a dark deposit indicative of local fusion. Perforation resulted from the development of a crack from the internal surface. Microscopic examination revealed extensive intergranular penetration by molten copper. Particles of copper were seen in scale deposits on the bore of the tube. The tube in general showed a ferritic structure with partially spheroidized carbide. The fact that fusion of the copper had occurred indicated temperatures of 1100 deg C (2012 deg F) had been experienced locally, and the structural condition suggested that the tube in general had been heated at a lower temperature of the order of 600 deg C (1112 deg F) for some appreciable time. In this instance, overheating of the tube in the absence of the copper deposits may not have led to failure.

A backwell tube situated in the combustion chamber of a 100 atm boiler, which had been in service for many years, failed. The temperature of the saturated steam was about 300 deg C. Two pipe sections with attacked areas in the circumferential welding joint were examined for cause of failure. First section showed strong pit or trench-like attack in the welding seam on the inner surface. A bluish-black corrosion product adhered to the pits. The second section showed small blisters at the welding seam. The metallographic examination of the first section showed welding seam was strongly reduced in bulk from the inside and covered with a thick crumbling layer of magnetic iron oxide (Fe3-O4). This was a corrosion product resulting from the operation of the boiler. In addition, it was decarburized from the inside, and interspersed with grain boundary cracks. This form of attack is typical for the decarburization of steel by high-pressure hydrogen. Hence, the defects in the pipe sections were the result of scaling during the operation of the steam boiler. It was recommended to avoid unnecessary overheating during the welding of materials for high-pressure steam boiler operations.

An unusual type of defect was discovered during hydraulic testing of a water-tube boiler after repairs to the superheater tubes following erosion from soot-blowers. When the pressure reached 700 psi, slight leakage was found to be taking place from one of the superheater tubes in a region where there appeared to be a split, approximately 8 in. long. What was thought to be a split was actually a pronounced fold. Microscopic examination showed that a corrosion-fatigue fissure had developed from one of the inside corners of the fold, presumably as a result of the fluctuating bending stresses to which this portion of the tube would be subjected because of the discontinuity in the tube wall. It was from this fissure that the leakage occurred. It was evident that the defect developed during the manufacture of the tube, probably in the course of a drawing or rolling operation without an internal plug. The diam of this portion of the tube was reduced by local collapse and folding of the section rather than by longitudinal extension of the tube itself.

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 a more corrosion-resistant alloy, extreme care should be taken in the manufacturing of the replacement tube bundles to avoid imparting any residual tensile stresses in the tubing. Analyses of city and spring-pit water were recommended also, to determine which contained the least-harmful corrosive chemicals.

Brief overheating of the 89 mm OD 6.4 mm wall thickness titanium heater tubes (ASTM B337, grade 2) was caused by a flow stoppage in a leach heater. Blue-tinted areas and patches of flaky white, yellow, and brown oxide scale was revealed on visual examination. It was disclosed by subjecting the overheated tube to a flattening test that the tube no longer met ASTM B 337 specifications. Large grain size and numerous needlelike hydride particles were disclosed in the microstructure of the overheated tube. Heating to approximately 815 deg C was revealed by the presence of the flaky oxide and increased grain size. Hydrogen and oxygen absorption was revealed by the presence of hydrides and the shallow surface embrittlement and thus susceptibility to cracking at ambient temperatures was observed. It was concluded that the titanium tubes were embrittled due to overheating the tubes and the severe surface embrittlement resulted from oxygen absorption which made the surface layers susceptible to cracking under start up and shutdown. Replacement tubes made of a heat-resistant alloy (e.g., Hastelloy C-276) were recommended.

Some 99.90 pure tin tubes (0.15 mm thick) used for packaging a chemical compound cracked on bending and underwent brittle fracture prior to filling, while others remained ductile and showed no sign of failure. Examination showed that specimens prepared by mechanical methods such as electrolytic and hand polishing and the vibration method resulted in poor edge and crack edge definition due to material thickness. Etching experiments involved a grain surface attack and hence produced a rather strong surface relief from which the grain boundary cracks could again not clearly be differentiated. The sections were therefore examined unetched in polarized light. The microstructure of the cracked tubes was shown to have much smaller grains than the ductile and showed cracks from the surface down along the grain boundaries. Material hardness also differed between the unusable tubes and the ductile, and chemical analysis showed a higher level of aluminum in the brittle specimens. Failure obviously occurred due to the high material aluminum content that increased hardness which then caused embrittlement at the surface which led to cracks or fracture on bending. Since no explanation of how the aluminum entered the tin was available, no recommendations could be made.

Microstructural examinations on transverse cross sections of a steam reformer tube, showed the presence of large macrovoids elongated in the radial direction and emanating from the internal surface of the tube. The macrovoids were located at the interdendritic regions, and were partially filled by a Mn-Fe bearing chromium oxide film. The areas adjacent to the oxide film were chemically depleted in C, Cr and Mn and rich in Fe and Ni. Associated with this depletion were a large concentration of microvoids. It was suggested that the dissolution of carbides in areas surrounding the macrovoids and the concentration of stresses at their tips, caused extensive localized plastic deformation which led to the formation of microvoids and subsequently to the spalling of the oxide film. The non-protective character of the film induced a progressive deterioration of the grain boundaries properties. Grain boundary sliding and dislocation motion were enhanced, causing a local increase in the steady state strain rate and the premature failure of the tube.

Radiant tubes that failed prematurely in an ethylene cracking furnace were analyzed to determine the cause of their early demise. The tubes were made from austenitic heat-resistant steel and cracked along their longitudinal axis. New and used tubes were compared using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry, and mechanical property testing. This provided critical information and revealed that improper coking and decoking had removed the protective oxide layer (Cr 2 O 3 ) that normally prevents coke deposits from forming on exposed surfaces. Without this layer, coke readily accumulates on the surface of the tubes, fueling carbon diffusion into the metal and a corresponding degradation in microstructure and loss of ductility at high temperatures.

A failure analysis was conducted on brass alloy 270 heat exchanger tubes that were pulled from a unit used to cool oil for the speed regulators and thrust bearings of a hydroelectric power plant. The tubes began to leak after approximately 5.5 years of service. Macrophotography and scanning electron microscopy were used to examine samples from the tubes. An energy-dispersive electron microprobe analysis was carried out to evaluate the zinc distribution. Results showed that the failure was due to dezincification. Replacement of the tubes with new tubes fabricated from a dezincification-resistant alloy was recommended.

An HK-40 alloy tubing weld in a reformer furnace of a petrochemical plant failed by leaking after a shorter time than that predicted by design specifications. Leaking occurred because of cracks that passed through the thickness of the weldment. Analysis of the cracked tubing indicated that the sulfur and phosphorus contents of the weld metal were higher than specified, the thickness was narrower at the weld, and the mechanical resistance of the weld metal was lower than specified. Cracking initiated at the weld root by coalescence of creep cavities. Propagation and expansion was aided by internal carburization. Quality control of welding procedures and filler metal was recommended.

Leaks developed in 22 admiralty brass condenser tubes. The tubes were part of a condenser that was being used to condense steam from a nuclear power plant and had been in operation for less than 2 years. Analysis identified three types of failure modes: stress-corrosion cracking, corrosion under deposit (pitting and crevice), and dezincification. Fractures were transgranular and typical of stress-corrosion cracking. The primary cause of the corrosion deposit was low-flow conditions in those parts of the condenser where failure occurred. Maintenance of proper flow conditions was recommended.

Two superheater tubes from a 6.2 MPa (900 psig) boiler failed in service because of creep rupture. One tube was carbon steel and the other was carbon steel welded to ASTM A213 Grade T22 (2.25Cr-1.0Mo) tubing. The failure in the welded tube occurred in the carbon steel section. Portions of the superheater were retubed five years previously with Grade 722 material. The failures indicated that tubes were exposed to long-term overheating conditions. While the carbon steel tube did not experience temperatures above the lower transformation temperature 727 deg C (1340 deg F), the welded tube did experience a temperature peak in excess of 727 deg C (1340 deg F). The long-term overheating conditions could have been the result of excessive heat flux and /or inadequate steam flow. In addition, the entire superheater bank should have been upgraded to Grade 722 material at the time of retubing.

Leaks developed at random locations in aluminum brass condenser tubes within the first year of operation of a steam condenser in a nuclear power plant. One failed tube underwent scanning electron microscopy surface examination and optical microscope metallography. It was determined that the tube failed from crevice corrosion under seawater deposits that had formed on the inner surface. Mechanical cleaning of the condenser tubes every 6 months and installation of intake screens of smaller mesh size were recommended.