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Damage evaluation of fossil fuelled power plant

boiler tubes through magnetic Barkhausen
technique

Article in Engineering Failure Analysis · September 2014

DOI: 10.1016/j.engfailanal.2014.05.011

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 Engineering Failure Analysis 44 (2014) 195–201

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Engineering Failure Analysis

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engfailanal

Damage evaluation of fossil fuelled power plant boiler tubes

through magnetic Barkhausen technique
Rajat K. Roy a,⇑, Swapan K. Das a, Abhinav Srivastava b, Ashis K. Panda a, Amitava Mitra a
a
MST Division, CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur 831007, India
b
Department of Metallurgical Engg., National Institute of Technology, Raipur 492010, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The failure mechanism of two economizer tubes of a fossil fuelled 260 MW power plant has
Received 31 October 2013 been investigated through the magnetic Barkhausen emission (MBE) technique along with
Received in revised form 10 May 2014 the conventional and established materials characterization and evaluation techniques
Accepted 19 May 2014
(like microstructures, mechanical properties and X-ray diffraction). The longer service
Available online 29 May 2014
exposer period results in the breaking of ferrite–pearlite structure and spheroidization
lamellar cementite in ferrite matrix, associating with high magnetic r.m.s. voltage for
Keywords:
former structure. The failure mechanism was governed by the cold end corrosion process
Barkhausen
Pulse height distribution
with the presence of sulfates, and the subsequent erosion through hard quartz particles
r.m.s. Voltage leads to a localized thinning of outer surface. Accordingly, the hoop stress was operative
Economizer tube in tube walls and failed through fish-mouth opening. The MBE r.m.s. voltage response
Hoop stress and pulse height distribution throw light on microstructural changes with duration of
service exposure as well as leaked and non-leaked regions of economizer tubes.
Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Amongst energy sources fossil-fuelled power plants still generate a majority of the electricity in most countries and
within this category, coal-fired power plants contribute the greatest proportion [1,2]. In the process of generation of electric-
ity, water transformed to steam due to exchange of heat from flue gases generated from burnt pulverized coal and passes
through the boiler tubes at high temperature and pressure. Therefore, the boiler tubes are exposed to harsh environment
through inside steam and outside flue gases, which affect lifetime of tube materials, leading to premature failure. Thus there
is not only the loss of materials cost but also the downtime of any thermal power plant. Accordingly, the maintenance cost,
which is estimated as 54% of total production costs, increases for the replacement of damaged tubes during maintenance
schedules [3].
In boilers, the economizer tubes recover the heat enthalpy from exhaust flue gases of super heater tubes for preheating
the boiler water to a temperature close to boiling point. The heat exchange efficiency is enhanced by welded spiral fins sur-
rounding the economizer tubes. Therefore, the economizer tube is the coolest region compared to other regions of boiler
tubes. Consequently, the economizer tube faces the cold-end corrosion [4–7], which is related to the condensation of
H2SO4 at the tube surface due to reaction between water vapor (moisture) and SO3 from oxidized fuels. This corrosion pro-
cess is accelerated when moisture and SO3 content increase in the flue gases and tube temperature falls below H2SO4 dew

⇑ Corresponding author. Address: Materials Science and Technology Division, CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory, Burma Mines, Jamshedpur 831007,
India. Tel.: +91 657 2345002; fax: +91 657 2345213.
E-mail address: rajat@nmlindia.org (R.K. Roy).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2014.05.011
1350-6307/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
196 R.K. Roy et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 44 (2014) 195–201

point. Moreover, the impingement of abrasive quartz particles causes high wear rate at the tube’s outer surface by two body
abrasive wear, leading to the rapid erosion of tube wall [8]. Therefore, the economizer tubes might fail through a deleterious
contribution of cold end corrosion and two body abrasive wear, resulting into forced outages in boiler operation [9]. It
demands continuous monitoring or periodic inspection of the tubes through nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques
[10]. Ultrasonic technique is being used regularly for routine maintenance of the power plant components to find cracks
and tube wall thinning [11,12]. However, this technique is not that effective to find the microstructural degradation, surface
defects or residual stress generated in the boiler tube during operation. Since the magnetic properties of steel are sensitive to
stress and microstructure, various magnetic techniques are being used for assessing the damages in service exposed com-
ponents. It has been found that magnetic Barkhausen emissions (MBE) can be used for investigation of creep damage in
Cr–Mo steels exposed at high temperature and pressure [13]. Such magnetic property change has been attributed to varia-
tion of microstructural morphologies at different creep stages [14,15]. In the present paper, MBE technique is being used to
find the cause of premature failure of economizer tubes where the evidence by other techniques like microstructure,
mechanical properties are not very much conclusive. The present study also suggests that the technique may be useful to
locate vulnerable region of the tube by routine inspection during shut down period of the plant.

2. Material and methods

Two economizer tubes designated as E-I and E-II, of a fossil fuelled thermal power plant, were failed after 1,03,857 h and
28,953 h, respectively. Both the tubes were made of SA 210 Gr.A1 steel and were service exposed at 300 °C. It appears that
the tube E-II failed prematurely. The chemical composition of the tubes was cross-checked by Optical Emission Spectroscopy,
as shown in Table 1. For microstructrual investigations, specimens were cut along the cross section of tubes from leaked and
non-leaked regions. The mounted metallographic specimens were prepared by grinding, polishing and etching by 2% Nital
solution. Microstructural observations and hardness measurements were done by an optical microscope (Leica DM 2550)
and Vickers hardness tester (Reicherter Stiefelmayer UH-3), respectively. Mechanical properties were evaluated by a univer-
sal tensile testing machine (Tinius Olsen HK25). The fly ash deposits were analyzed by an X-ray diffractometer (Bruker: D8
Discover). The MBE measurement was taken using a surface probe, which is explained by a photographic image (Fig. 1a) and
schematic drawing (Fig. 1b). The magnetizing field of 24.5 Oe was applied on the leaked and un-leaked regions of failed tubes
under 40 Hz frequency. The magnetizing field was calibrated using a Hall probe at the tip of the magnetizing coil. As the MBE
signal is directly proportional to the magnetizing frequency, a frequency of 40 Hz was chosen to get measurable signal
amplitude and moderate penetration depth. The Barkhausen waveforms were analyzed at a band pass filter frequency of
30–300 kHz. The measuring points were selected as a mesh throughout the leaked and non-leaked regions with 10 mm
gap between two mesh points, explained by the schematic diagram (Fig. 1c).

3. Results

3.1. Visual observation

The failed tubes were cut for visual examination and photography, as shown in Fig. 2. The economizer tube E-I had a fish
mouth type crack of 5 cm long and 2 cm wide along longitudinal direction (Fig. 2a). Similarly, tube E-II also had a fish mouth

Table 1
Chemical composition of the investigated economizer tubes.

Boiler tube Chemical composition (in wt%)

C Mn P S Si
Failed tubes (E-I & E-II) 0.19–0.22 0.41–0.48 0.01 0.04–0.014 0.1–0.13
Std. SA210 A1 0.27 max 0.93 max 0.035 max 0.035 max 0.10 min

Fig. 1. (a) Photographic image and (b) schematic diagram, explaining MBE measurement method at fish-mouth opened region of failed tube, and (c)
different mesh points for measuring MBE signal explained schematically.
 R.K. Roy et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 44 (2014) 195–201 197

crack of 7 cm long and 3 cm wide along longitudinal direction (Fig. 2b). Except near the failed region, no internal diameter
change is observed as examined from the cross-sectional images, indicating no internal material loss took place during oper-
ational period of the tube. The tube wall thickness measured at different locations of ruptured sides, as shown in Fig. 2(a) and
(b), is mentioned in Table 2. The wall thicknesses are reduced to approximately 90% at the knife edge portions of both tubes.
Thus visual observation indicates the reduction in thickness near the failed region is presumably due to the erosion–
corrosion process through the ash particles of flue gases, resulting in crimping and thinning down of the outer surface.

3.2. Mechanical properties evaluation

Hardness and tensile properties of failed tubes are shown in Table 3. The hardness of tube E-I in its leaked and non-leaked
regions is comparable. However, the tube E-II exhibits higher hardness in leaked region as compared to non-leaked regions,
indicating some microstructural changes. On the other hand, the UTS values of E-I and II tubes are 440 MPa, and 458 MPa,
respectively, which are almost comparable to standard specifications of similar grade (SA210 A1) steel [16]. However, YS and
elongation values of tubes are slightly higher than that of standard SA210 A1. Therefore, it can be said that tensile properties
are as per standard specifications and there is no deterioration in strength and ductility of the investigated tubes. The hoop
stress (rh ¼ Pd
2t
, where rh is hoop stress, P is internal pressure, t is tube wall thickness and d is tube internal diameter) is
calculated at the thinnest leaked region and initial tube thickness.

3.3. Magnetic Barkhausen emissions

The r.m.s. voltage of magnetic Barkhausen emissions (MBE) signal is measured at different mesh points (shown in Fig. 1c)
of leaked and non-leaked regions of the tubes, and the contour map is reconstituted by the measured r.m.s. voltage (Fig. 3). In

Fig. 2. Fish mouth opening of failed tubes (a) E-I and (b) E-II, inset showing cross-sectional area of corresponding tubes.

Table 2
Tube thickness at different locations as shown in Fig. 2a and b.

E-I t (mm) E-II t (mm)

A 0.7 A2 0.58
B 0.6 B2 0.54
C 0.3 C2 0.44
D 1.4 D2 0.49
E 1.3 E2 0.3
F 0.9 P 5.5
T 5.0

Table 3
Hardness, tensile properties and hoop stress of failed tubes and standard SA210 A1 steel.


Samples Hardness (HV) Yield strength Tensile strength (UTS) Elongation (%) Hoop stress rh ¼ Pd
2t ðMPaÞ
(MPa) (MPa), rt ðLf L0 Þ100
Non-leaked Leaked L0 At initial tube At thinnest (t) leaked
region region thickness region
Tube E-I 141 139 308 440 40 57a 950b
Tube E-II 136 167 305 458 38 50c 932d
Std. SA210 A1 150 – 255 415 22 – –

Lf = final tensile sample length and L0 = initial tensile sample length.

a
When P = 16.7 MPa, d = 34.1 mm & t = 5 mm.
b
When P = 16.7 MPa, d = 34.1 mm & t = 0.3 mm.
c
When P = 16.7 MPa, d = 33.5 mm & t = 5.5 mm.
d
When P = 16.7 MPa, d = 33.5 mm & t = 0.3 mm.
198 R.K. Roy et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 44 (2014) 195–201

Tube E-I RMS Values

(V)
12 Non-leaked region
37.90
35.83
10 33.76
31.69

Perimeter (cm)
29.63
27.56
8
25.49
23.42
21.35
6
Leaked region

2 Non-leaked region

1 2 3 4 5 6
X Y
Length (cm)
(a)

Tube E-II RMS Values

14 (V)
Non-leaked region
319.0
293.8
12
268.5
Leaked region
Perimeter (cm)

243.3
10 218.0
192.8
167.5
8 142.3
Leaked region 117.0

2 Non-leaked region

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
X2 Y2
Length (cm)
(b)
Fig. 3. Distribution of r.m.s. voltage at leaked and non-leaked regions of (a) tube- E-I and (b) tube E-II.

these maps, the failed tubes are shown in 2-D planes as if the tubes are opened and the distribution of r.m.s. voltage is
explained throughout the perimeter and length of failed zones, such as XY (Fig. 2a) for tube E-I and X2Y2 (Fig. 2b) for tube
E-II. The contour map represents the r.m.s. voltage variation surrounding the fish mouth opening of the tubes at leaked and
unaffected non-leaked regions. The r.m.s. voltage of the prematurely failed tube E-II is higher than that of longer exposed
tube E-I. Such variation is expected owing to the change in microstructure due to longer exposure time in tube-E-I. It is note-
worthy that the r.m.s. voltage of both tubes is maximum near the leaked regions of fish mouth opened space and gradually
decreased to non-leaked regions. The variation in r.m.s. might be related to the different stress concentrations that affect the
magnetic domain wall movements. The hoop stress near the non-leaked and leaked region is calculated and presented in
Table 3 which clearly shows the presence of higher stress value near the leaked region in both the tubes. The magnetic
Barkhausen signal (MBE) signal is analyzed and the pulsed height distribution (PHD) has been plotted, as shown in
Fig. 4a and b for tube E-I and E-II, respectively. The tube E-I shows higher number low amplitude pulses whereas the tube
E-II exhibits more large amplitude pulses, indicating existence the large number of pinning density in E-I. It is interesting to
note that the low amplitude pulses further decreases and the number of high amplitude pulses increases at the leaked region
for both the tubes. Such observation indicates that the domain wall pinning density is higher not only in tube E-I than tube
E-II but also in the non-leaked region compared to the leaked region.

3.4. Microstructures evaluation

Micrographs at the cross-sectional area of the tubes E-I and E-II near leaked and non-leaked regions are shown in Figs. 5
and 6, respectively. The pearlite colonies have been completely broken in tube E-I, and the lamellar cementite (carbide) is
spheroidised in the ferrite matrix. It is noticed that the cementite is distributed throughout the ferrite grains in the non-
leaked regions (Fig. 5a), while the coarsened cementite/carbide particles are mostly concentrated at the ferrite grain bound-
aries in the same tube near leaked region (Fig. 5b). The tube E-II shows the presence of ferrite and pearlite colonies for both
leaked and non-leaked regions (Fig. 6a and b). However, the pearlite colonies are more linked together at the grain boundary
near leaked region, as indicated by arrow in Fig. 6b. The segregation of carbide particles and pearlite colonies near grain
boundary might be related to the crimping and thinning down the outer surface, caused by the continuous erosion through
flue gases and simultaneous coal-ash/fly-ash corrosion [9].
 R.K. Roy et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 44 (2014) 195–201 199

Non-leaked Tube : E-I

400 Leaked

200

No of Pulses

Tube : E-II
400

200 Non-leaked

Leaked

0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
Pulse Height (A.U)

Fig. 4. MBE pulse height distribution in leaked and non-leaked regions of economizer tubes (a) E-I and (b) E-II.

Fig. 5. Optical microstructures of economizer tube E-I: (a) non-leaked region (T of Fig. 1a), and (b) leaked region (V of Fig. 1a).

Fig. 6. Optical microstructures of economizer tube E-II showing cross sectional area microstructures of (a) non-leaked (P of Fig. 2b), and (b) leaked regions
(R of Fig. 2b).
200 R.K. Roy et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 44 (2014) 195–201

Al 2SiO5 SiO2
80
NaNO3 KNO3

CaSO4.H 2O
60

Intensity (a.u.)
40

20

0
20 40 60 80 100
Angle (2θ)

Fig. 7. X-ray diffraction pattern of fly ash deposits collected from tube E-I outer surface.

3.5. X-ray diffraction of deposited fly ash

The failed regions of tube E-I was covered with fly ash deposits which were collected carefully and analyzed by X-ray dif-
fraction pattern (Fig. 7). The main components of ash deposits are Al2SiO5 and SiO2. Moreover, some nitrate and sulfates are
also present in the deposits. The sulfate and nitrate particles are derived from the oxides of sulfur and nitrogen during high
temperature combustion process [14]. Therefore, this failure is relevant to acid corrosion and followed by erosion through
hard quartz (SiO2) particles.

4. Discussions

The chemical analysis of the tubes indicates that the chemical composition lies within the specified range for SA210 A1
steel for both the tubes. Therefore, the changes in MBE r.m.s. voltages for tubes E-I and E-II are due to their difference in
microstructure. The SA210 A1 steel consists of ferrite–pearlite morphologies, dominating the key features of tube E-II after
short exposure time (28,953 h). In contrast, the long exposure time (1,03,857 h) of tube E-I causes spheroidization of lamellar
cementite, distributing carbide spheroids in the ferrite matrix. The large number of carbide distribution within the grain and
grain boundary in tube E-I results in higher pinning density for the domain wall movement as compared to ferrite pearlite
structure of tube E-II. Accordingly, the large numbers of small amplitude pulse are obtained in tube E-I as compared to tube
E-II where ferrite–pearlite structure allows the domain movement easier and hence generating the large numbers of higher
amplitude pulse. In both the tubes the low amplitude pulses are fewer in the leaked regions than non-leaked regions. In the
leaked regions, the carbides and pearlite in tube E-I and E-II, respectively, settle at the ferrite grain boundaries. As a result,
the low amplitude MBE contribution by these phases is less in leaked regions compared to presence of these phases in grain
matrix of non-leaked regions. The tube wall thinning near the leaked area due to erosion produces more hoop stresses result-
ing in the segregation of cementite or pearlite colonies near the grain boundaries of leaked areas than the non-leaked areas.
Such distribution also enhances the r.m.s. signal. More surface area in leaked regions also enhances MBE signal compared to
non-leaked area. As a whole, the higher deformation and the presence of carbide and pearlite at grain boundaries result in
more MBE voltage near leaked region due to easier magnetic domain movement. Therefore, the tube wall thinning is the
prime factor for premature failure as well as long service exposed failure.
Visual investigation describes localized thinning of tube wall thickness up to 0.3 mm and no internal diameter change,
indicating the initiation of wall thinning from outer surfaces (fireside). The tube wall thinning in economizer tube is caused
by the corrosion/erosion either through the moisture from the soot blowing system and/or washing from the other leaks
[3,4]. Here, the X-ray diffraction pattern of fly ash deposits represents sulfate and quartz contents. It means cold end corro-
sion leads to initial surface deterioration, and simultaneous erosion is accelerated through hard quartz particles, resulting in
the exfoliation at the tube surface and tube wall thinning. Consequently, the tube wall thinning is related to the hoop stress
generation. The hoop stress is about twice of the design strength (rt) of the material, as described in Table 3 on the basis of
calculation from the thick (initial thickness) and thin regions of the failed tubes. Therefore, the hoop stress is operative in the
thinnest regions when the tube wall is incapable to load carrying ability and at the extreme cases, the tubes are failed with a
fish mouth opening.

5. Conclusions

The economizer tubes are corroded through the sulfate particles and simultaneously eroded by hard quartz particles. As a
consequence the exfoliation occurs at outer tube surface, thinning down the tube wall thickness. The hoop stress is
 R.K. Roy et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 44 (2014) 195–201 201

generated at the thinned region and operative for the tube failure through fish-mouth opening. The long service exposure of
tube E-I causes spheroidization of cementite and reduces the r.m.s. voltage of MBE signal. In contrast, the ferrite pearlite
morphology as observed in tube E-II enhances the r.m.s. voltage of MBE signal. The presence of carbide and pearlite at
the grain boundaries reduces the low amplitude pulses of leaked region than that of non-leaked region.

Acknowledgement

The authors wish to thank Director, CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory for kindly giving permission to publish this
work.

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