Acta Microscopica, Vol. 18, Supp.

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CREEP VOID DETECTION IN 13CrMo44 STEEL USING SCANNING ELECTRONIC MICROSCOPY Glucio Rigueira1,2 , Heloisa Cunha Furtado1 , Maurcio Barreto Lisboa1 e Luiz Henrique de Almeida 2
1 2

Centro de Pesquisas de Energia Eltrica (CEPEL), Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (PEMM/COPPE/UFRJ), Brasil.

Tubes of the secondary superheater, made of DIN 13CrMo44 alloy (1Cr-0.5Mo) from a thermal power plant, shown an increase in diameter above 5% after 253,155 hours operating under 515C and 95 kgf/cm2. The theoretical chemical composition [1] is presented in Table 1. This diameter increase is a creep resistance loss indicative. This work identified, by microstructural analysis techniques using optical and electronic scanning microscopy, the material degradation, characterized by the presence of spheroidized carbides, localized at the grain boundaries, at the last degradation stage (F) according to Toft e Marsden criteria [2]. In addition, SEM analysis revealed the presence of creep voids at grain boundaries triple points, showing that the material was at the end of tertiary creep stage, which was expected, considering the time of operation near 29 years under the mentioned conditions. After the tubes were taken off operation, they were analyzed in order to evaluate the microstructural changes promoted by long-term exposure to high temperature. Therefore, samples were prepared to optical microscopy observation and posterior degradation classification. It was seen that the microstructure was composed by ferrite plus grain boundaries carbides, with absence of pearlite. This configuration was expected considering the time of exposure, sufficiently large to the complete coalescence of Fe 3 C. The image of these phases is shown in Figure 1. These same samples have been submitted to SEM as a way to identify any other subtle microstructural changes that could not be seen with the optical microscope. There were found creep voids at grain boundaries, at triple points and around carbides, as can be seen in Figure 2. This image shows one micrography with 2,000X magnification and three others, with 5,000X magnification, in order to evaluate, more carefully, each field of the first one. Creep voids have been reported to be a creep degradation parameter, despite its presence has been observed only at the end of operating life of low alloy steels. In general, the presence of creep voids occurs almost at rupture time and near the rupture area. Therefore, the chance to observe these voids during destructive test is very small. For this reason, the carbides coalescence is the best way to verify material degradation.

References [1] http://steel.keytometals.com/Search.aspx?id=ChemCrt&LN=PT&id1=47374&id2=2489&Sessio nID=1617925221020087521751R77H16XFF08J3R8850 o [2] TOFT, L.H, MARSDEN, R.A., "Structural processes in creep: special report n . 70", Iron & Steel Institute , pp. 238-244, London, 1961.

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Table 1: Theoretical chemical composition of 13CrMo44 steel [1]. Element C % 0.10 0.18 Si 0.1 0.35 Mn 0.40 0.70 P, S 0.035 max. Cr 0.70 1.10 Mo 0.45 0.65

Figure 1: Observed microstructure of 13CrMo44 steel sample, by optical microscopy, with 400X magnification and etched by nital 2%, showing ferrite plus carbides, at F degradation stage, according to Toft and Marsden criteria [2].

Figure 2: SEM images of the material showing the presence of creep voids at grain boundaries triple points and around carbides. The first one has 2,000X magnification and the three others have 5,000X magnification.