Accepted Manuscript

Title: Failure investigation of super heater tubes of coal fired

power plant

Authors: A.K. Pramanick, G. Das, S.K. Das, M. Ghosh

PII: S2213-2902(16)30039-6
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.csefa.2017.06.001
Reference: CSEFA 125

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Received date: 28-12-2016

Revised date: 4-5-2017
Accepted date: 6-6-2017

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Failure Investigation of Super Heater Tubes of Coal Fired Power Plant

A. K. Pramanick, G. Das, S. K. Das and M. Ghosh*

Materials Science & Technology, CSIR - National Metallurgical Laboratory,

Jamshedpur 831007, India

*
Corresponding Author. Tel +91-657-234-5188, Fax: +91-657-234-5213.
Email address: ghosh_mnk@yahoo.com

Graphical abstract

Mixed Mode Failure of Super Heater Tube Under Stress and Temperature Gradient

Damaged tube Damaged tube

Damaged tube-inside
Cracking Bulging

Oxide Scale

Optical image of damaged tube: SEM image of damaged tube: X-ray diffraction of
-Fe+complex carbide +voids GB cracking+complex carbide corrosion product

Microvoid Intergranular
coalescence cracking

1
Highlights of Investigation
Present study includes following unique features:

 Thick and thin scale formation over inside wall of tube promoted local overheating

 Prolong exposure of tube material under high stress and temperature caused creep and

material softening leading to reduction in wall thickness

 Under high hoop stress at that elevated temperature, thinned wall material ultimately

failed exhibiting ‘fish mouth opening’.

Abstract

Cause of failure of two adjacent super heater tubes made of Cr-Mo steel of a coal based 60MW

thermal power plant has been portrayed in present investigation. Oxide deposits were found on

internal surface of tubes. Deposits created significant resistance to heat transfer and resulted in

undesirable rise in component temperature. This situation, in turn, aggravated the condition of

gas side that was exposed to high temperature. Localized heating coarsened carbides as well as

propelled precipitation of new brittle phases along grain boundary resulting in embrittlement of

tube material. Continuous exposure to high temperature softened the tube material and tube wall

was thinned down with bulging toward outside. Creep void formation along grain boundary was

observed and steered intergranular cracking. All these effects contributed synergistically and

tubes were failed ultimately due to overload under high Hoop stress.

Keywords: failure analysis; boiler tube; oxidation; corrosion; creep

2
1. Introduction:

For any power plant, it is prime importance to generate electricity without forced outages.

Failure of super heater tube of boiler is the major concern of forced outages at coal fired thermal

power plant. Flue gas passes over super heater tubes leading to damage over the time of

operation and termed as fireside damage / corrosion. Again the extent of damage is dependent on

quality of coal, materials used, operation and maintenance. Interior of these tubes are also

vulnerable and primarily dependent on quality of water used for generating high pressure steam.

Continuous / steady flow of steam through these tubes is necessary to maintain tube

materials under prescribed temperature. Otherwise, there is a possibility of shoot-up of

temperature causing fast detoriation of materials and subsequent failure. In that case overall

efficiency of the plant is dropped. Therefore, the study of tube failure and finding the solution is

needed to avoid such incident in future.

Boiler tubes of a coal fired plant faced harsh environment all the way from inside steam to

outside flue gases. Tubes are exposed to temperature in the range of 540-1000 °C, varying along

length of tubes i.e. from base toward elevation. According to service condition, outside of tubes

are exposed to high temperature. High pressure steam flows through inside and is discharged at a

temperature of  5000C depending on nature and capacity of plant. Temperature shoot up above

specification is most common reason of failure for boiler tubes [1]. The reason is either scale

formation on internal and/or external surfaces under prolong exposure at elevated temperature or

non-uniform steam flow through partially blocked tubes [2]. Internal scale formation reduces

heat transfer rate across tube wall. Moreover, scale formation causes non-linear (non-uniform)

heating, resulting in the retardation of heat transfer further and reduction of thermal efficiency.

External oxide formation generally depends on type / quality of coal, which produces flue gas.
3
Mostly complex alkali sulfate scales are formed. This effect raises the temperature of tube

locally and longtime exposure results in thicker oxide formation, subsequent exclusion of the

same. The later phenomenon escalates wall thinning and rupture of the tube. Material de-

generation and subsequent failure due to thermal fluctuation, have been studied by a number of

investigators in recent past [3-4].

It is to be noted, that in many cases a thin protective Fe3O4 layer is deposited on waterside of

tubes. Protectiveness of this thin layer depends on pH level and degree of contamination of

water. There are many failure mechanisms that have been reported depending upon the presence

of contamination with flowing steam. These are primarily related with caustic corrosion,

hydrogen damage or pitting [5–12].

This paper presents the analysis of failure of two adjacent super heater tubes in a coal based 60

MW power plant. Inside steam pressure was at 100 kg/cm2. Within short span of time in the end

zone of the super heater tubes three failures were reported. The incident happened with the

component commissioned in 1988 and last overhauled in 2015. After routine maintenance, the

system was operated for nearly four months and then first failure occurred. Subsequently, second

failure was reported after 10 days and third one took place after 2 months. During entire

operation period only schedule outages were made. Location of the failed region was close

vicinity of top end of the tubes and very near to boiler drum where the flu gas temperature was

~9000C.

Two failed pieces of tubes made of Cr–Mo steel were chosen for this investigation. Sample-A

(tube A) exhibited fish mouth cracking at one side and bulging at opposite side. Layer wise

corrosion was observed near open end of crack and over remaining wall. Inner surface contained

multiple cracks along longitudinal direction whereas the same was completely absent at outer

4
surface. Sample-B (Tube B), also contained fish mouth cracking at one part of the tube. Inner

side of the pipe was covered with loosely attached brownish substance. Excessive wall thinning

was found close to failure. With respect to total designated service life, both the components

failed after covering nearly ¾th of the same. To prevent such undesirable incident in future, the

investigation was taken up to find out cause of failure and subsequently providing tentative

remedial measure.

2. EXPERIMENTAL

Failed boiler tubes were visually examined to reveal the nature of fracture. Tubes were cut along

cross section to study the appearance of inner wall. Samples were collected from different

locations for investigation as indicated in Fig.1. The marked locations with sample ID are

collated in Table-1.

Samples- A1 to A4 and B1 to B3 were considered for metallographic examination. They were

mounted, polished by conventional technique, etched with 3% Nital and examined in optical

(Leica DM 2500M, USA) and scanning electron (JEOL JSM 840A, JAPAN) microscopes.

Fracture surfaces were cleaned using dilute EDTA solution followed by Kerosene oil and finally

in Acetone by sonication. The samples were studied in SEM. Bulk composition of alloy was

determined in ICP and LECO using chips, obtained from cleaned surface. Bulk hardness was

evaluated near fracture and bulging zone in Brinell Scale using steel ball as indenter. Some

amount of adhered corrosion products was collected and examined by X-ray diffraction

technique to identify their nature. The investigation and corresponding inferences are described

in the following sub-sections.

3. RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS

3.i. Visual Examination

5
The damaged tubes were observed in reflected light with naked eyes (Fig.1 and 2). Two tubes

were designated as Sample-A and sample-B. Both tubes experienced temperature in range of

~540oC with stress level 100 Kg/cm2 during operation. Sample-A exhibited fish mouth cracking

at one side (Fig.1a) and bulging at opposite side of weld (Fig.1b). Cut length of the tube was 400

mm and wall thickness of un-deformed region was ~5.80 mm with ~36.8 mm outer diameter.

From weld seam the distance of cracking was ~40 mm and total crack length was ~50 mm with

~6.7 mm maximum opening. Layer wise corrosion was observed near open end of crack and the

remaining wall thickness was reduced drastically (1 mm). Inner surface contained multiple

crack formation along longitudinal direction (Fig.1c) whereas the same was completely absent at

outer surface. Outer surface was blackened owing to thermal effect (Fig.1a) and the inside

surface was deep brown with numerous reddish spots (Fig.1c).

As mentioned above, bulging was observed at lower half of the same tube. After bulging outer

diameter became ~42.0 mm with distance of deformation ~12 cm from weld seam. Thick scale

was loosely adhered to the inner surface near bulging (Fig.1d).

Sample-B, also contained fish mouth cracking at one part of tube and other part exhibited no

such de-generation. Total length of cut portion of tube was ~250 mm, wall thickness was ~6.2

mm with outer diameter ~39.0 mm. Crack was adjacent to weld seam with length ~30 mm and

maximum crack opening ~2.8 mm. Both inner and outer surface contained longitudinal cracking

of variable length (Figs.2a-b). Inner side of the pipe was loosely covered with fine brown

whiskers, which were product of oxidation corrosion (Fig.2b). Fracture surface was dull in

appearance. The area contained layered brown structure due to oxidation corrosion owing to its

exposure to air after failure (Fig.2a). Excessive thinning was found at the close vicinity of

failure.
6
3.ii. Chemical Composition

The concentration of alloying elements in alloy has been collated in Table-2. The chemical

composition of bulk specimen confirmed Polish composition of Steel 10H2M, which was

equivalent to DIN 10CrMo9-10 or T22. There was no difference in chemical composition of the

failed tubes with respect to standard specification.

3.iii. Microstructural Examination

The optical microstructures of damaged components are shown in Fig.3 and consisted of pre-

dominantly polygonal ferrite. Close to grain boundary, dark voids were observed. This was an

indication of creep. Couple of globular / elliptical / near-globular diffused shaded islands of

variable size was also found. These were globular carbides occurred due to spherodisation under

high temperature exposure. With respect to un-deformed grain geometry (Figs.3a and d), grain

shape near fracture (Figs.3b and e) exhibited slight increment in aspect ratio with loss of

angularity. This envisaged material flow under stress at elevated temperature leading to bulging

and subsequent wall thinning.

SEM micrographs confirmed the inferences drawn from optical imaging (Fig.4). Along grain

boundary bright islands indicated spherodisation of carbides (indicated by arrows). Along grain

boundary void coalescence resulted in crack formation (Fig.4a and c). Region close to bulging

also revealed interconnected voids that were generated during service exploitation. Creep

damage occurred at elevated temperature under stress. Owing to local temperature rise beyond

the designated / recommended maximum temperature of use over a period of time caused grain

boundary sliding. The sliding generated de-cohesion / voids at boundary. With time voids grew

in size and became inter connected. This weakened grain boundary strength with ultimate

reduction in load bearing capability of component. Severe spherodisation of carbide and void

7
generation were the indication of local temperature rise. Therefore, temperature rise at high

stress level caused two phenomena i.e. carbide spherodisation and creep damage to create voids.

SEM investigation also carried out from inner to outer surface to reveal pre-dominant structural

changes – if any for tubes near fracture (Fig.5).

Practically, either inner or outer region close to fracture did not exhibit significant change with

respect to Fig.4. EDS spectrum was obtained from one of the precipitates along grain boundary.

Semi-quantitative analysis revealed that precipitates were complex mixed alloy carbides with Cr

and Mo as major constituents.

3.iv. Hardness Measurement

The bulk hardness at different location of failed component is given in Table-3. With respect to

as received material hardness of ~200 BHN as indicated in published literature / standards for

this grade of Cr-Mo steel, the hardness was reduced drastically near fracture indicating materials

softening during service. Bulged area exhibited little higher hardness as the damage might be

little less in that region with respect to fractured location over same time span. It could be

possible that with still longer exposure, the hardness of bulged area might reach to the hardness

of failure location.

3.v. X-ray diffraction study

Fig.6 illustrated the characteristic X-ray spectrum of corrosion products obtained from different

location of failed tube. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed the presence of different Fe-oxides

and hydroxides. Bulk composition of such deposits was also examined in EDS to find out

qualitatively the constituents (Fig.7). Major peaks in illustration indicated the presence of iron

and oxygen. It referred that corrosion products were mainly iron oxide in association with minor

amount of other chemical species of steel.

8
3.vi. Fractography

SEM fractographs of both tubes are displayed in Fig.8. Large sized micro-voids / dimples were

observed envisaging softening of tube material (Fig.8a and c). The softening of alloy was

established through reduction in bulk hardness as indicated in Table-3. Ductile fracture signified

micro-void coalescence resulting in overload failure. For sample A, fracture surface was mostly

covered with oxides and it was difficult to explore specific features underneath apart from

ductility failure (Fig.8a). In some regions cracked thick skin of oxide layer was found (Fig.8b).

In case of sample B2, intergranular failure was observed (arrows in Fig.8d) at localised regions;

however, most of the area of fracture surface indicated ductile dimple fracture (Fig.8c). This

intergranular cracking was originated from voids adjacent to grain boundary due to creep (Fig.4).

Thus, thin lip fish mouth opening of fracture surface of both tube A and B was the signature of

mix mode failure. In that case, creep deformation was accompanied by wall thinning through

necking. This reduced strength of the alloy resulting in dimple rupture. If creep became the only

operating mechanism, then it became thick lip fish mouth failure as there would be no scope for

material flow / deformation to reduce wall thickness.

3.vii. Evaluation of Hoop stress

In straight tube, any force applied over circumference / cylindrical wall (i.e. a normal stress

along tangential / azimuth direction) is termed as circumferential stress or hoop stress. Hoop

stress is tensile in nature. In case of thin-walled tube, it has been assumed that wall thickness

becomes no more than one-tenth of its radius. This allows for treating the wall as a surface, and

subsequently using the Young–Laplace equation [13] for estimating the hoop stress.

Fracture is governed by the hoop stress in the absence of other external loads, since it is the

largest principal stress. It is noteworthy that greatest stress is experienced inside of tube; hence

9
cracks in tubes should theoretically start from inside the tube. Yielding is governed by an

equivalent stress that includes hoop stress and the longitudinal or radial stress when present.

Hoop stress is expressed in following fashion,

 = P.d. (2t)-1
Where, P is the stress in MPa, d is the internal diameter of tube in mm and t is the wall thickness

in mm. Considering inside operating pressure of tube 100 Kgf / cm2, the hoop stress in un-

deformed and deformed regions of tube A and B was calculated and given in Table-4. These

values were compared with room temperature tensile properties of annealed T22 alloy.

From Table-4 it was evident, that with respect to un-deformed region, deformed region

experienced excessive normal stress during service exploitation due to oxidation corrosion

assisted wall thinning, which was greater than the yield strength of tube material. Considering

T22 alloy, this category of Cr-Mo steel able to retain their strength up to ~520oC and then

reduced drastically and may reach ~30MPa (0.25 off set yield) at ~600oC. Therefore, apart from

oxide scales, local heating beyond operating temperature propelled material flow and softening

to thin down the tube wall further. This thin wall was unable to with stand high hoop stress,

hence failed under overload.

4. Observations

i. The component was made of Cr-Mo low alloy steel. Composition was close to Polish

specification of ‘Steel 10H2M’. Other equivalent specification was DIN 10CrMo910 / T22.

Concentration of major chemical species was within the specified limit.

ii. Microstructure of steel tube consisted of polygonal ferrite grains containing pearlite and alloy

carbide. During service exposure, oxide scales were formed inside the tube. When the scale

thickness became substantial, it started hindering heat transfer across the tube wall. Thus

10
localized heating took place. Scale formation, its growth and subsequent removal by loosening

from material surface were continuous process. This resulted in reduction in wall thickness of

tube. However, as it becomes a non-steady state phenomenon, any further quantification of data

might lead to misleading information for high temperature deformation characteristics.

Moreover, Heating coarsened the carbides and propelled precipitation of new brittle phases along

grain boundary. This caused further embrittlement.

iii. Under stress and temperature, grain boundary sliding promoted void formation along

boundary and at latter stage they became interconnected. This further weakened the structure.

iv. Dimension of the tube near fracture was changed drastically. It seemed that materials got

softened. Material softening was confirmed through evaluation of bulk hardness near failed

location. The value was exorbitantly low with respect to investigated material as indicated in

literature. In addition to earlier effect of scale formation, the softening contributed in material’s

flow also and created bulging.

v. Initially by creep i.e. intergranular cracking and subsequently due to overload ductile fracture

under excessive hoop stress beyond the yield point of tube material, the component failed during

service exploitation. This was endorsed by ‘Thin Lip Fish Mouth’ fracture at both the failed

location.

5. Conclusions:

From the investigation and subsequent inferences on root cause, sequences of final failure can be

illustrated as follows:

 Oxide scale formation and its subsequent spalling from inside wall of tube – occurred due to

improper cleaning and /or poor water quality over substantial period of service and resulted

wall thinning.

11
  Creep & softening of material - oxide scale hindered smooth heat transfer across tube

wall hence caused local overheating. Under inside steam pressure i.e. stress at high

temperature creep was taken place accompanied by softening of materials.

 Weakening of material - along grain boundary there was de-cohesion and at reduced wall

thickness the alloy lost load bearing ability

 Final failure - bulging occurred under excessive Hoop stress leading to failure

6. Preventive and corrective actions

 Cleaning of inside tube wall at regular interval might be adopted to remove all hindrance

/ heterogeneities.

 Checking of quality of water time to time is required to maintain its PH and oxygen

content at specified level. One of the sources of contamination is condenser tube leakage,

leading to high salt concentration within water.

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the Director, CSIR-NML, Jamshedpur, for his kind permission to

publish the research work.

12
References

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Wiley & Sons Inc. (1993)

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investigation on reheater tube due to deposit and wall thinning, J. Fail. Anal. Prevent.,

9(2009)365–369

[3] A. N. Parit, A.P. Tadamalle and V. Ramaswamy, Failure Investigation of Secondary Super

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combustor, Engg. Failure Ana., 15 (2008) 182–187

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heater tube, Engg. Failure Ana., 9 (2002) 563–570

[6] ASM handbook, vol. 1. ASM Metals Park, OH, USA (1993) 284

[7] D. R. H. Jones, Engineering Materials 3. London: Pergamon Press, (1993) 358

[8] A.V. Levy, In: V. Srinivasan, K. Vedula, Eds. Corrosion and particle erosion at high

temperature. TMS (1989) 207.

[9] A. V. Levy, Solid particle erosion and erosion-corrosion of materials. ASM International

Metals Park, Ohio(1995)

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MW power plant, Engg. Failure Ana. 45 (2014) 59–64

13
[11] M.M. Rahman , J. Purbolaksono, J. Ahmad, Root cause failure analysis of a division wall

superheater tube of a coal-fired power station, Engg. Failure Ana. 17 (2010) 1490–1494

[12] N. K. Mukhopadhyay, S. G. Chowdhury, G. Das, I. Chattoraj, S. K. Das, D. K.

Bhattacharya, An investigation of the failure of low pressure steam turbine blades, Engg.

Failure Ana., 5 (3) (1998) 181–193.

[13] A. Ibrahim, Y. Ryu, M. Saidpour, Stress analysis of thin-walled pressure vessels, Mod.

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14
Figure Captions

Fig.1: Macro image and sampling location from damaged tube A (a) cracking over surface (b)

bulged region, (c) Inner surface of tube, (d) inner surface of bulged region and (e) schematic

presentation of tube assembly with marked location of failure

15
Fig.2: Macro image and sampling location from damaged tube B (a) cracking over surface and

(b) appearance of inner surface

Fig.3: Optical microstructure of transverse section of damaged tubes (a) sample A1, (b) sample

A2, (c) sample A3, (d) sample B1 and (e) sample B2. All samples exhibited ferrite matrix

containing large voids, spherodisation and coalescence of carbides preferably along grain

boundary

16
Fig.4: SEM micrographs of transverse section of damaged tubes (a) sample A2, (b) sample A3

and (c) sample B2; g.b.voids / cracks and alloy carbides were visible along grain boundary

17
Fig.5: SEM micrographs across inner to outer region of damaged tubes (a) inner - sample A4, (b)

outer – sample A4, (c) inner - sample B3, (d) outer – sample B3 and (e) EDs spectrum from

precipitate as shown in Fig.5b with quantification indicating Cr-Mo rich alloy carbide

18
Fig.6: X-ray characteristic spectrum from the deposits of oxidation corrosion (a) Tube - A and

(b) Tube-B; Corrosion products were mostly iron oxides and hydroxides of different grades

19
Fig.7: Qualitative EDS analysis of scales formed inside the tube (a) scales from tube A and (b)

scales from tube B

20
Fig.8: SEM fractographs of damaged tubes (a) & (b) near sample A2, (c) & (d) close to sample

B2

21
 Table & Table Captions

Table-1: Sampling location from fracture component and its nomenclature

Tube ID Sample ID Location

Sample-A Sample-A1 Away from fracture
Sample-A2 Sub-surface of fracture
Sample-A3 Near bulging
Sample-A4 Near Fracture (Across thickness)
Sample-B Sample-B1 Away from fracture
Sample-B2 Sub-surface of fracture
Sample-B3 Near Fracture (Across thickness)

Table-2: Bulk chemical composition of component

Element in wt%
Alloy C Si Mn Cr Mo S (max) P (max) Fe Ni /Cu
(max)
Steel 10H2M 0.08-0.15 0.15- 0.3- 2.0- 0.9- 0.03 0.03 bal 0.30
0.30 0.6 2.5 1.1
Din 0.08-0.14 0.5 0.4- 2.0- 0.9- 0.01 0.02 bal 0.30
10CrMo9-10 max 0.8 2.5 1.1
T22 0.05-0.15 0.5 0.3- 1.9- 0.87- 0.025 0.025 bal NI
max 0.6 2.6 1.13
Sample A 0.14 0.27 0.41 2.25 0.99 0.02 0.02 bal N/F

Sample B 0.13 0.32 0.47 2.10 1.03 0.02 0.02 bal N/F
* N/F – not found, NI- not indicated

Table-3: Bulk hardness of failed tubes at different location

Sample A2 Sample B2 Sample B3
Hardness 114  1.5 114  0.5 126  1
(BHN)

Table-4: Hoop stress distribution in failed tubes

Sample ID Hoop stress  (MPa) YS (MPa) UTS (MPa)

Un-deformed Deformed

Sample-A 21.3 224.7

Sample-B 21.0 352.6
T22 alloy 220.0 415.0

22
23