Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
(2009) 9:310315
DOI 10.1007/s11668-009-9253-y
CASE HISTORYPEER-REVIEWED
Submitted: 13 February 2009 / in revised form: 22 April 2009 / Published online: 12 May 2009
ASM International 2009
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311
Particulars
Details
1.
2.
Diameter
3.
Length
2765 mm (2.765 m)
4.
5.
Wall thickness
Seamless or welded
3 mm (0.118 in.)
Welded
6.
Date of commissioning
December, 1989
7.
Open to atmosphere
8.
9.
Operation
Continuous
10.
Normal
11.
Periodic maintenance
schedule
12.
Major repair
Nil
13.
External coating
Nil
14.
Date of failure
10.03.2004
15.
Location of leak/rupture
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312
Visual Inspection
Fire tube sleeve (Figs. 3 and 4) and one cut piece of fire
tube sleeve (Fig. 5) from the failed section were subjected
to visual inspection revealing as follows:
Gas Analysis
The fuel gas contains 1.39% carbon dioxide which will not
be acidic in nature in the absence of moisture and will not
promote wet CO2 corrosion at the high temperatures used
in this system.
Elemental Composition Analysis
The results of compositional analysis of the failed sleeve
sample carried out by spark spectroscopy are given in
Table 2.
The elemental composition of the failed sleeve material
Incoloy 800 conforms to the specified requirements as per
ASTM B409 alloy UNS N08800 [3].
Hardness Testing
Fig. 3 Close view of the fire tube sleeve showing rupture at one end
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313
Sleeve material
ASTM B409
Carbon
0.08
0.1 (max)
Chromium
19.66
1923%
Nickel
32.67
3035%
Sulfur
0.009
0.015 (max)
Manganese
0.68
1.5 (max)
Silicon
0.30
1.0 (max)
Titanium
0.48
0.150.6
Aluminum
0.33
0.150.6
Copper
0.46
0.75 (max)
Cobalt
0.015
Iron
Balance
Balance
Sleeve alloy
Thickness, mm
3.08
Breadth, mm
12.50
Area, mm2
38.50
Gauge length, mm
50
Final length, mm
65.06
Yield load, kg
16400
Ultimate load, kg
26200
YS, N/mm2
425.95
205 (min)
UTS, N/mm2
680.52
520 (min)
% Elongation
30.12
30 (min)
Fig. 7 Microstructure of undamaged sleeve showing austenitic grains
and annealing twins, 1009
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314
Discussion
Various studies were carried out to examine the integrity of
the sleeve plate materialIncoloy 800. The sleeve had
failed after continuous service of 15 years. The failure is in
the form of cracking, crumbling, deforming, and thinning
of the sleeve material at the circumferential edge of the last
section of the sleeve from its fixed end.
During normal operations, the sleeve is subjected to
very high temperatures. As per the observation of the
microstructure at the failed area, it had revealed that the
metal had undergone severe internal oxidation at the edge
of the failed sample (Fig. 9). Grain growth occurs in the
austenitic steels and alloys above 1000 C, but no trouble
arises since they remain tough and ductile even in the
coarse-grained condition. Grain coarsening was observed
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315
Recommendations
1.
2.
3.
Fig. 11 Microstructure of damaged sleeve showing intergranular
cracks, 2009
Conclusions
Combined effects of high temperature internal oxidation/
corrosion, intergranular attack, exposure of metal to
incipient melting temperature coupled together with
microstructural evolution led to severe reduction in wall
thickness along with melting and curling of the metal
resulting in rupture/deformation of sleeve. The present
sleeve material for Heater Treater appears to be suitable for
such kind of high temperature applications. Microstructural
evolution and property deterioration during continuous
high temperature service is inevitable. However, the life of
4.
Acknowledgments The authors are thankful to the ONGC management for providing the necessary infrastructure for carrying out
the analysis and its gracious approval for publication of this article.
References
1. Institute of Oil & Gas Production Technology, Oil and Natural gas
Corporation Ltd.: Technical Manual for Production Operations
(Internal Company Document), pp. 279285. Institute of Oil &
Gas Production Technology, Oil and Natural gas Corporation Ltd.,
Panvel, Navi-Mumbai, India (1992)
2. Special Metal Corporation: Special Metals Publication Number
SMC-046. Special Metal Corporation, USA (2003)
3. ASTM International: Standard Specification for NickelIron
Chromium Alloy Plate, Sheet, and Strip. ASTM Standard Specification B 409-01. ASTM International, USA (2002)
4. American Society of Metals: Metallography and Microstructure.
In: Metals Handbook, vol. 9, 9th edn, pp. 309316. American
Society of Metals, Metals Park, OH, USA (1988)
5. Powell, G.W., Mahmoud, S.E.: Failure Analysis and Prevention.
In: Metals Handbook, vol. 11, 9th edn, 266 pp. American Society
of Metals, Metals Park, OH, USA (1988)
6. American Society of Metals: Corrosion. In: Metals Handbook,
vol. 13, 9th edn, pp. 97100. American Society of Metals, Metals
Park, OH, USA (1989)
7. Chawla, S.L., Gupta, R.K.: Material Selection for Corrosion
Control, pp. 12, 143. ASM International, Materials Park, OH, USA
(1997)
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