Corrosion Fatigue

Description

Corrosion fatigue is a form of fatigue in which cracking of the material

occurs in the combined presence of a corrosive environment and cyclic
loading. The effect of the corrosive environment is to cause the material
to fail faster than it normally would in a non-corrosive environment, i.e.,
initiation or crack growth occurs at a cyclic load lower than it would
occur in a non-corrosive environment, or, at a lower number of loading
cycles. The corrosive environment usually increases material stresses by
section thinning, and/or by producing surface roughness that can act as
a stress raiser.

Corrosion fatigue is a degradation mechanism that can affect all metals

and alloys, the extent of which depends on the corrosive environment.
The form of the fatigue crack is not significantly altered by the presence
of the corrosive species; the crack simply grows faster and is more likely
to occur in corrosive environments that can produce pitting or localized
corrosion. The cyclic loading can be produced by fluctuating mechanical
stresses (see Mechanical Fatigue) or fluctuating thermal stresses (see
Thermal Fatigue). Crack initiation sites usually occur at stress
concentrators, which include pits, notches, surface defects, fillet welds
or changes in cross-section thickness. After crack initiation, during the
tensile phase of the fatigue cycle, the corrosive agent progresses further
into the crack leading to additional corrosion at the crack tip.
Characteristics of cracking due to corrosion fatigue include a large opening displacement, cracks filled with corrosion
product, and blunt crack tips. The formation of multiple, adjacent parallel cracks of a brittle, usually transgranular,
nature is often seen. Plastic deformation may be observed in the final failure of the material as this often occurs by
mechanical overload of the remaining load-bearing cross-sectional area.

An example of a spear-shaped
transgranular corrosion fatigue
crack, which initiated at a pit. The
crack has a wide opening
displacement and is filled with
corrosion product.
During the degradation process of corrosion fatigue, cyclic stress also
plays a large part; however unlike pure mechanical fatigue, corrosion
fatigue has no associated load limit that the material or equipment
design can endure for a specified number of cycles. The corrosion
inherent in corrosion fatigue serves only to promote failure at a lower
stress and/or lower number of cycles than would normally be expected
in the absence of corrosion.
Areas of most concern for operating units are:

• Rotating equipment: Corrosion of the impeller and pump shaft

may cause pitting that can act as a stress concentrator and crack
initiation site. Galvanic couples between impellers and shafts with
dissimilar materials have produced localized corrosion that led to
corrosion fatigue.

• Deaerator cracking: The deaerator environment, in combination

with residual welding or fabrication stresses and any other stress
raisers such as attachments or weld reinforcements, can result in
corrosion fatigue cracking. Corrosion in the deaerator environment
is usually associated with the presence of residual oxygen in the
water and the fluctuating stresses are often associated with water
hammer in the system. Refer to NACE RP0590 for more
information on deaerator cracking.

• Cycling boiler: A cycling boiler is susceptible to corrosion fatigue

because it can see several hundred cold starts in its lifetime. Due
to differential expansion, these cold starts can cause the cracking
of the protective magnetite scale allowing corrosion to resume.
Damage is usually initially signalled by a pinhole leak on the cold
side of a waterwall tube at a buckstay attachment.

Prevention/ mitigation

Corrosion fatigue can be often be addressed by proper materials

selection, i.e., by using a more corrosion-resistant material for the
service environment. Other methods used for the prevention of
corrosion, such as painting, inhibitors, and cathodic protection are also
relevant for the prevention of corrosion fatigue. Equally, those methods
used to prevent mechanical fatigue (see Mechanical Fatigue) and
thermal fatigue (see Thermal Fatigue), in combination with corrosion
prevention methods, are suitable for mitigating corrosion fatigue. For
example, application of postweld heat treatment (PWHT) to reduce the
level of residual stresses has been used successfully. Although shot-
peening or surface alloying to promote compressive stresses in the
surface have been used successfully in non-corrosive environments,
they have not always been successful in mitigating corrosion fatigue
because the altered surface condition may be removed by subsequent
corrosion.

Deaerator cracking: Deaerator cracking can be prevented by proper

feedwater and condensate chemical control, grinding weld contours
smooth and minimizing residual stresses by PWHT. Refer to NACE
RP0590 for more information on prevention of deaerator cracking.

Cycling boiler: Corrosion fatigue in cyclic boilers can be prevented by

way of a slow start-up to minimize the differential expansion strains, as
well as by ensuring that the chemistry of the boiler water is under
control.

Inspection Techniques

• crack detection and sizing, general

References

• NACE Standard RP 0590, "Recommended Practice for Prevention,

Detection, and Correction of Deaerator Cracking"

• NALCO, "Guide to Boiler Failure Analysis", R.D. Port and H.M.

Herro, 1991