Materials Science and Engineering A 454–455 (2007) 679–684

Short communication

Creep rupture analysis and remaining life assessment of

2.25Cr–1Mo steel tubes from a thermal power plant
A.K. Ray a,∗ , Y.N. Tiwari a , P.K. Roy a , S. Chaudhuri a ,
S.C. Bose a , R.N. Ghosh a , J.D. Whittenberger b
a National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur 831007, Jharkhand, India
b NASA, Lewis Research Centre, Cleveland, OH 44135, USA

Received 21 June 2006; received in revised form 1 November 2006; accepted 3 November 2006

Abstract
Superheater and reheater 2.25Cr–1Mo steel boiler tubes from a thermal power plant after 17 year of service at nominally 540 ◦ C and 40 MPa
were studied to predict their remnant life. The investigation included dimensional, hardness and tensile measurements in addition to accelerated
stress rupture tests between 625 and 700 ◦ C and microstructural examination. The microstructure of the service-exposed alloy was free from any
signs of deterioration, and the hardness was within the expected ranges; however, tensile testing revealed an apparent loss of strength from room
temperature to 600 ◦ C. Accelerated rupture testing, on the other hand, did not reveal any degradation of rupture behaviour compared to that of
the virgin alloy. Analysis of the stress rupture data predicted that the 17 years exposed superheater and reheater tubes could remain in continued
service for at least 12 more years at the current stress–temperature conditions.
© 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Service exposed; 2.25Cr–1Mo steel; Larson–Miller parameter; LMP; Residual life

1. Introduction This is best estimated by conducting systematic life assessment

Boiler tubes in power plants have finite life because of pro-
longed exposure to high temperatures, stresses and aggressive
environments. Remaining life assessment of aged power plant
components in the present highly competitive industrial scene
has become necessary both for economic and safety reasons as
most of the power plants are over 25 years old. In real life situa-
tions both premature retirement and life extension in relation to
the original design life can be encountered.
The consequence of failure of a component in-use can be
tragic and expensive. There are many cases of engineering disas-
ters resulting in loss of life and property. For boiler components,
utmost attention is must to ensure that such incidents cannot
take place. Carbon and Cr–Mo steels are extensively used as
high temperature components in power plants [1–19]. Even
though most of these components have a specific design life
of 20 years, past experience has shown that they can have sig-
nificant remaining life beyond the original design specification.
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 657 2271709x2209; fax: +91 657 2270527.
E-mail address: asokroy@nmlindia.org (A.K. Ray).
exercises during a planned shutdown. In most cases, damage
accumulation starts from the outer surface as surface cracks.
Therefore, careful visual examination and non-destructive tests
(e.g. dye penetration tests, magnetic particle inspection, etc.)
carried out on the tubing surfaces can give some idea about the
health of the component. In addition, the use of ultrasonic flaw
detectors can potentially detect nucleation of defects within the
material.
In view of the increasing cost of setting up a new power gener-
ation plants, considerable interest in life extension of the existing
units exists. In order to arrive at a quantitative estimate of the
remaining life of such ageing components, it is necessary to have
creep and stress rupture data, as non-destructive test results can-
not predict the future creep life and creep deformation behaviour
of the service-exposed tubes. In common practice, in the absence
of discernible damage, stress rupture tests can be selectively
used to assess the condition of current components. One of the
most widely used techniques for life assessment of components
involves removal of service exposed alloy and conducting accel-
erated tests at temperatures above the service temperature [8].
An estimate of the remaining life at the operating hoop stress and
temperature is then made by analysis creep rupture data using

0921-5093/$ – see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.msea.2006.11.019
680 A.K. Ray et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 454–455 (2007) 679–684

the Larson–Miller parameter:
Larson–Miller parameter (LMP) = T (20 + log tr ),
where T is the absolute temperature and tr is the creep rupture
time.
The present work represents an attempt to determine the via-
bility of 2.25Cr–1Mo steel components for continued service
by testing specimens machined from 17 years service-exposed
superheater and reheater tubes. This investigation incorporated
measurement of the room temperature to 600 ◦ C tensile proper-
ties and 625–700 ◦ C creep rupture properties. Additionally, the
microstructure and room temperature hardness of 2.25Cr–1Mo
steel specimens taken from the service-exposed alloy were doc-
umented.
2. Experimental procedures
The material specification with service condition and history
of operation of the exposed 2.25Cr–1Mo steel superheater and
reheater tubes from a 120 MW boiler of a thermal power plant
are given in Table 1. In essence all the steel examined in this
work had been previously exposed for 17 years at 540 ◦ C under
low stress. Based on the operating steam pressure (Table 1), the
hoop stress σ h acting on the service exposed superheater and
reheater tubes was estimated from
PD
σh =
2t
where P is the operating pressure, D the mean diameter
and t is the thickness of the tube. Thus, the operating hoop
stress acting on each of the service exposed tubes was about
40 MPa.
(1) Visual inspection and chemical analysis of the service-
exposed tubes was first undertaken which was followed by light
optical metallographic examination, where the samples were
polished by standard metallographic techniques with a final pol-
ishing step of 0.1 ␮m diamond paste followed by etching with
2% nital. The average Vickers hardness values (VHN) of these
tubes were measured at 30 kg load on these polished and etched
metallographic specimens.
Tensile tests at room temperature, 300, 400, 500 and 600 ◦ C
of service exposed samples were performed using a digitally
controlled universal testing machine, equipped with a three-
zone split furnace. Standard tensile specimens (flat dog bone
shape with nominal gage dimensions: 3.1 mm thick, 6 mm wide
and 35 mm length) were machined from service-exposed tubes
with the gage length parallel to the longitudinal direction of the
service-exposed tubes, per ASTM E8-79 specifications. During
tensile testing, a constant test temperature within ±2 ◦ C and
a constant displacement rate of 8 × 10−3 mm s−1 were main-
tained. At least two specimens were tested in each condition
and the average was taken to represent the tensile data for each
test temperature-service exposure condition.
Accelerated stress rupture testing using constant load Mayes
creep testing machines were carried out per ASTM 139/83
specification with flat specimens having the same specimen
geometry as those used for tensile testing. Stress rupture tests
(2)
were conducted between 625 and 700 ◦ C with the stress levels
selected to obtain rupture within a reasonable span of time
(Table 2).

Table 1
Material specification, dimension and service condition of the service exposed tubes in a 120 MW boiler of a thermal power plant
Material made of 2.25Cr–1Mo steel
Platen superheater outlet Final superheater outlet Reheater outlet

Material specification/grade of steel BS 3059/622 BS 3059/622 BS 3059/622

Design steam pressure at outlet (MPa) 14.81 14.81 3.24
Operating steam pressure outlet (MPa) 13.11 13.11 2.75
Operating temperature (◦ C) 540 540 540
Design temperature (◦ C) 570 570 570
Steam flow (kg/h) 393,000 393,000 361.4
Outer diameter (o.d.) (mm) 50.8 50.8 50.8
Thickness (mm) 10.97 10.97 3.25
Service-exposed (running) hours (years) 17 17 17

Table 2
Stress rupture properties of the service exposed boiler tubes
Serial number Material Test temperature (◦ C) Stress (MPa) Rupture time (h) LMP

1 Platen superheater outlet 700 38.7 246 21816

2 Platen superheater outlet 650 50 1319 21340
3 Platen superheater outlet 625 53.8 3035 21087
4 Final superheater outlet 700 38.7 252 21796
5 Final superheater outlet 650 50.0 1736 21450
6 Final superheater outlet 625 53.8 3012 21084
7 Reheater outlet 700 38.7 189 21676
8 Reheater outlet 650 50.0 1966 21501
9 Reheater outlet 625 53.8 4055 21200
 A.K. Ray et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 454–455 (2007) 679–684
A three-zone wound furnace, fitted with programmable con-
troller was used to heat the tensile and stress rupture specimens.
Three Pt–Pt/13% Rh thermocouples were tied along the gage
length of the specimens, and temperature was maintained within
±2 ◦ C, throughout the testing schedules. Temperature as well as
strain was monitored continuously through a data logger.
Because samples of the alloy tubing used in construction of
the power plant were not available, all comparisons of alloy
chemistry, structure or mechanical properties to those of the
virgin material necessitated the use of literature values [14].
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Visual observation and metallography
Dimensional measurement of the service-exposed tubes
revealed that there was no change in outer diameter or thick-
ness of the reheater and superheater outlet tubes; thus, it appears
that the tubes had not undergone any appreciable deformation
during actual operation over 17 years (Table 1). Furthermore,
visual examination of the tubes did not reveal any evidence of
localised damage or oxidation on either the outer or inner sur-
faces. Additionally, chemical analysis by wet method [15,16]
showed (Table 3) that the service-exposed 2.25Cr–1Mo steel
alloy still conformed to the BS 3059/622 specification.
The microstructure of the service-exposed reheater, platen
superheater and final superheater outlet tubes mainly consisted
of ferritic bainitic (Fig. 1(a–c), respectively) where the ferrite
grains are dispersed with carbides. Additionally, there was no
evidence of decarburisation or creep damage in the form of
cavities in any of the service-exposed tubes. These structures
are similar to those for a typical un-exposed alloy (Fig. 1(d));
therefore, the service exposed reheater, platen superheater and
final superheater tubes do not appear to have undergone any
appreciable microstructural degradation.
Results of non-destructive tests on the superheater headers
and on the superheater tubes conducted at site, during plant shut
down did not reveal any appreciable degradation [15] of the
components.
3.2. Mechanical properties
Room temperature microhardness values for the exposed
alloy are given in Table 4; these results are in agreement with
those for virgin 2.25Cr–1Mo steel, where the hardness varies
from 160 to 180 VHN, depending on the type of thermomechan-
ical processing and heat treatment given to the alloy [14]. Thus,
Table 3
Chemical analysis of the service exposed boiler tubes and its specification
Serial number Type of material wt% of elements present
C Mn
1 Platen superheater outlet 0.12 0.64
2 Final superheater outlet 0.14 0.57
3 Reheater outlet 0.15 0.62
4. BS 3059/622 specification 0.15 maximum 0.6 maximum
681
Table 4
Hardness values of the service exposed reheater and superheater tubes
Serial number Type of main steam pipe Hardness value (VHN)
1 Platen superheater outlet 173 ± 2
2 Final superheater outlet 163 ± 2
3 Reheater outlet 176 ± 1
prolonged service exposure has not produced any appreciable
reduction in the expected hardness based on the alloy type.
The measured tensile properties for the service-exposed
2.25Cr–1Mo samples are reported in Fig. 2 along with the
behaviour of virgin ASTM 213-T22 grade of steel of a similar
composition. Both the 0.2% yield stress and the ultimate ten-
sile strength (UTS) values (Fig. 2(a and b), respectively) for the
service exposed tubes tend to decrease with increasing tempera-
ture; however, the tensile elongation increases with temperature.
Overall, there was little significant difference in properties
among the samples taken from the three different tubes. The
tensile data, however, revealed that with one exception at room
temperature there is a consistent ∼40 MPa deterioration in yield
stress (Fig. 2(a)) for all the service-exposed conditions com-
pared the mean virgin alloy values. In general the UTS values
(Fig. 2(b)) for the service-exposed materials also demonstrated
some softening compared to virgin alloy; however, the reduc-
tion was not as consistent with temperature as that shown by
the yield strength results (Fig. 2(a)). Concurrent with the loss of
strength, there generally was a slight increase in the elongation
(Fig. 3(c)) for essentially all the tensile test conditions. While
the strength values tended to be lower and the tensile elonga-
tions higher than the mean values for virgin material (Fig. 2),
the variations fall within the specified limits for similar grade of
steels, viz. 2.25Cr–0.5Mo steels, as reported in literature [14]
(Fig. 4).
The stress rupture test results (Table 2) carried out on test
specimens machined from platen superheater outlet, final super-
heater outlet and reheater outlet tubes are given in Fig. 3(a),
where applied stress (MPa) is shown as a function of LPM
parameter which normalizes the temperature (K) and time to
failure (h) conditions per Eq. (1). The current results compare
well with those for unexposed 2.25Cr–1Mo steel [14], and they
are above the minimum ASTM data line. Although only nine
samples have been tested (three from each location), there does
not seem to be any dependency on location within boiler; in
fact most of the current data fall on the ASTM mean data.
Thus, it is noteworthy that at low stress levels the stress rupture
data from the exposed alloy do not merge with the minimum
Si S P Cr Mo
0.08 0.045 0.03 2.23 0.9
0.14 0.048 0.028 2.31 0.89
0.21 0.034 0.033 2.49 1.05
0.5 maximum 0.05 maximum 0.03 maximum 2.6 maximum 1.13 maximum
682 A.K. Ray et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 454–455 (2007) 679–684

Fig. 2. Yield strength (a), ultimate tensile strength (b), tensile elongation (c) as
a function of test temperature and original sample location for virgin and service
exposed 2.25Cr–1Mo steel.

Fig. 1. Light optical photomicrographs of the service-exposed 2.25Cr–1Mo

steel: (a) reheater outlet tube revealing ferrite grains dispersed with carbides,
(b) final superheater outlet tube revealing ferritic and bainitic structure and that
the ferrite grains dispersed with carbides and (c) platen superheater outlet tube,
revealing ferrite grains dispersed with carbides.
 A.K. Ray et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 454–455 (2007) 679–684
Fig. 3. Stress as a function of Larson–Miller parameter (LMP) for virgin and
service exposed 2.25Cr–1Mo steel taken from three different locations.
ASTM data line which is contradictory to the common trend
observed in such steels after prior exposure [17]. Altogether, as
far as creep-rupture strength is concerned, there is no appreciable
degradation due to service exposure.
Fig. 3(b) presents an estimate of the remaining life for the ser-
vice exposed 2.25Cr–1Mo tubes stressed at 40 MPa as a function
of temperature through interpolation of LMP stress rupture plot
(Fig. 3(a)) and Eq. (1). In reality, definition of the actual operat-
ing temperature is the most crucial parameter. Although steam
temperatures are occasionally measured in boilers, local metal
temperatures are rarely measured. Due to operational use fluc-
tuations and possible oxide-scale growth, it is unlikely that a
constant metal temperature is maintained during service. There-
fore, a practical estimate of an “equivalent” or “mean” in service
metal temperature is made by post-service examination of such
parameters as hardness, microstructure, metal thickness and
thickness of steam-side oxide scale [18,19]. Such an after the
fact temperature, combined with the operating stress, can then
be used in conjunction with stress-LMP data to estimate the
remaining life. Per Fig. 3(b) for any temperature at or below
580 ◦ C, the exposed 2.25Cr–1Mo should have a remaining life
of more than 100,000 h (>12 year), provided there are no cracks,
Fig. 4. Predicted temperature–stress rupture life behaviour for the service
exposed 2.25Cr–1Mo steel.
683
dents or microstructural degradation [19] during the continued
long-term service. In the present case, no oxide scale, reduction
in metal thickness or decrease in mechanical properties were
observed for the 17 year exposed materials; thus, even invoking
the original design temperature of 570 ◦ C, which is higher than
the operating temperature (Table 1) for safety reason, at least >12
years of additional life for the boiler tubes can be anticipated.
As remaining life for in-service components is a critical
quantity, other parameters, in addition to the above direct LMP
approach, have been proposed and utilized [11,16]; in particu-
lar, the following criteria have been accepted to determine the
continued viability of service exposed components:
tf
(a) Time margin = ≥3 (3)
ts
σr
(b) Stress margin = ≥ 1.50 (4)
σs
where ts is current service life, tf the rupture life at service stress
(σ s ) and service temperature (Ts ) and σ r is the stress for rupture
corresponding to ts .
In terms of time margin for a current service life of 17 year at
a service temperature of 540 ◦ C and a service stress of 40 MPa,
one obtains an expected LMP value of ∼21650 from the ASTM
mean data curve in Fig. 3(a) which translates via Eq. (1) into
tf = 487 year; likewise, use of the ASTM minimum curve in
Fig. 3(a) yields a 21350 LMP parameter which gives tf = 208
year. For calculation of the time margin at the current service
life and service temperature, one obtains a LMP value of ∼20465
which translates to rupture stresses of ∼60 MPa from the ASTM
minimum data curve and ∼80 MPa from the ASTM mean data
curve in Fig. 3(a). Thus, the current estimates for time margin
range from 14 to 28, and the stress margin lies between 1.5 and
2; these margins are in excess of the minimums given for Eqs.
(3) and (4) for which implies a significant margin of safety for
continued operation of the components in the present boiler.
So far as the remaining life at 540 ◦ C/40 MPa is concerned
(Fig. 3(b)), a minimum additional life >100,000 h exists for the
service exposed reheater and superheater outlet tubes provided
there is no localised damage in the form of surface cracks or dents
which could accelerate non-creep failure modes. In essence, the
current creep rupture testing of 17 year at 540 ◦ C and 40 MPa
exposed alloy indicates that the material behaves as new, virgin
alloy; thus, significant useful life at 540 ◦ C and 40 MPa is still
available in spite of the possible reductions in yield strengths
and ultimate tensile strengths compared to new alloy (Fig. 2).
Therefore, it can be concluded that all the service exposed outlet
tubes in the boiler are in a good state of health and their use can
be safely continued.
While we believe that the above accurately states the cur-
rent conditions of the service exposed 2.25Cr–1Mo alloy used
for tubing in the boiler, it should be noted that no valid ser-
vice history records are available for individual tubes; thus, it
is possible that the current test samples were machined from
tubing which was replaced during an earlier shut-down of the
boiler. Thus, another study, similar to the current work, of the
service exposed tubing has been recommended after an addi-
684 A.K. Ray et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 454–455 (2007) 679–684
tional 50,000 h of exposure to assess the condition of the alloy
for their future serviceability.
4. Summary of results
Visual, metallurgical and mechanical property studies have
been undertaken on 2.25Cr–1Mo steel tubing which had been
exposed for 17 year at 540 ◦ C and 40 MPa in three different loca-
tions in a thermal power plant boiler. No visible damage in terms
of metal loss or oxide scale formation was found. While the room
temperature hardness values were within expectation, the room
temperature to 600 ◦ C tensile strength properties suffered some
apparent degradation compared to virgin alloy; in particular, the
0.2% yield stress decreased ∼40 MPa at all test temperatures.
On the other hand, accelerated creep rupture testing between
625 and 700 ◦ C resulted in rupture data that was compatible with
the ASTM mean Larsen–Miller parameter curve for this alloy.
Additionally, although the number of test samples was small, no
difference in behaviour among the three tubing locations was
noted.
5. Conclusion
Based on analysis of accelerated 625–700 ◦ C stress rupture
testing of samples machined from 17 year at 540 ◦ C and 40 MPa
exposed 2.25Cr–1Mo steel tubing, an additional life of at least
100,000 h at 540 ◦ C and 40 MPa is predicted.
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to Mr. Santokh Singh, Mr. Arun
Sharma and Mr. Sashi Bhushan Singh for their assistance in the
stress rupture tests.
The authors are grateful to Prof. S.P. Mehrotra, Director,
National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur, India for his
kind permission to publish this paper.
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