Engineering Failure Analysis 98 (2019) 131–140

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Engineering Failure Analysis

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

Failure analysis of a superheater tube ruptured in a power plant

T
boiler: Main causes and preventive strategies
⁎
Babak Haghighat-Shishavana, , Hossein Firouzi-Nerbina, Masoud Nazarian-Samanib,c,
⁎
Pooria Ashtaria, Farzad Nasirpouria,
a
Faculty of Materials Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz 51335-1996, IR Iran
b
School of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran 11155-4563, IR Iran
c
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Yonsei University, 134 Sinchon-dong, Seodaemoon-gu, Seoul 120-749, Republic of Korea

A R T IC LE I N F O ABS TRA CT

Keywords: The present study concentrated on the metallurgical, micro- and macroscopic observations,
Pipeline failure hardness evaluation, as well as X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS)
Boiler tube analysis induced during the high-temperature operation of a pipeline that resulted in its rela-
Creep tively short-time failure. An ASTM A213-T12 superheater pipeline is used in a fossil fuel power-
Corrosion
plant unit and is constructed by an array of steel tubes joined together by circumferential
Failure analysis
weldments. Macroscopic observations indicated a thinning and prolonged deformation of the
superheater tube in the region close to the fire zone besides thick corrosion products on the other
side of the pipe. Hardness measurements showed a remarkable decrease in hardness values of
superheater metal near to the failure zone, indicating that grain coarsening or any other mi-
crostructure weakening must happen. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations proved
the ductile nature of cracking and justified the prolonged failure of the tube. The observed voids
in the microstructure of the failed section demonstrated the occurrence of creep phenomenon.
XRD and EDS analyses demonstrated the nature of sediments formed on the tube and described
how the formation of these corrosion products contribute in the removal of any possible pro-
tective passive layer, exposing the tube to further corrosive deterioration and creating loop
stresses which, in turn, will induce creep phenomenon and accelerate the occurrence of a failure
in the tube.

1. Introduction

Several investigations have been recently concerned with reporting failure cases in electric power plants. Boilers are one of the
key components in steam power plants whose failure leads to the removal of the whole unit from the network [1]. The tubes
subjected to high internal pressures are critical components in heat-exchanger systems such as boiler tubes, steam superheater
elements, and chemical plant reformer tubes [2,3]. Boiler tubes are internally exposed to high pressure and temperature of the
flowing steam and externally to the high temperature of combustion products. Corrosive species present in both environments may
cause severe damages to the inside and outside of the tubes [4,5]. Superheater tubes are mostly susceptible to various failures, which
mostly include creep failure problems. The failures occurring under different temperature and time conditions are deduced from the
morphology of fracture and the change in microstructure [6].

⁎
Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: babak.shavan1945@gmail.com (B. Haghighat-Shishavan), nasirpouri@sut.ac.ir (F. Nasirpouri).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2019.01.016
Received 25 August 2018; Received in revised form 15 December 2018; Accepted 2 January 2019
Available online 03 January 2019
1350-6307/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
B. Haghighat-Shishavan et al. Engineering Failure Analysis 98 (2019) 131–140

One of the main reasons for the shutdown and removal of boilers from the circuit, and consequently, the removal of the unit from
the network is the leakage occurrence as a result of the failure in boilers' tubes, particularly in superheater tubes as well as re-heater
ones [7]. The reasons for the damage generally include a set of factors with regard to corrosion as well as high-temperature failures
[1]. Because it tends to be suffered from failure, which brings about not only great economic loss but also people's lives and property
lost, it is an important research field for domestic and overseas scholars. According to Purbolaksono et al. [8], heater tubes provide
the surface to exchange heat where the vapor passing through is heated in order to achieve higher temperatures. Since steam stream
should be at the highest possible temperature, heater tubes are placed at the beginning of the gas flow path or at the very bottom of
boilers [9]. Boiler tubes are generally subjected to a high internal pressure and temperature and even a higher external environmental
temperature. The most important reason for the destruction of the heater tubes is due to the temperature of pipe metal exceeding the
defined strength limit. The metal temperature may gradually go up over the years with the growth of oxide layer on the pipe, or it
may even suddenly increase as a result of the decrease in gas flow or the cooling inside. Boiler tubes under high internal pressure are
the critical components that may be influenced by creep and finally destroyed at high risk. Annually, damage to boiler tubes inflicts
five billion dollars cost to the power plant industry [10]. Iran's major power plants have also witnessed such failures.
The power plant which failed superheater tube belonged, consists of two steam units. The power plant also contains two gas
turbine units. The power plant's boilers have a pressurized furnace with a three-phase superheater and a two-phase re-heater array.
Each boiler comprises 20 burners placed on five floors in four corners, which in the case of using fuel mazut, 16 top burners are used.
The main fuel used in the power plant is natural gas and the rate of gas consumption at full load units is 185,000 cubic meters per
hour. The second fuel used in the power plant is mazut. The rate of mazut consumption for the two units at the maximum load is 3200
tons per day.
In a study by Shokouhmand et al. [11], failure analysis of a superheater of a power plant, which were a tangentially fired heavy oil
and natural gas furnace, was studied. In an another work by Mohapatra et al. [12], failure analysis was carried out on a prematurely
failed tertiary superheater tube used in gas-fired boiler. High temperature corrosion of the water wall tube in a thermal power plant
was investigated by Yang et al. [13]. Failure analysis on abnormal corrosion of economizer tubes in a waste heat boiler was done by
Ding et al. [14] to find out the root causes of the corrosion of A106 Gr.A steel.
In this paper, we investigated the failure of a high-temperature superheater tube of a fossil fuel power plant boiler whose de-
struction involves thinning and bursting during approximately 60 days (2 months). The failed tube was part of an assembly of a
superheater bank in an electrical power plant station which was supposed to fail in 200 days (6.6 months). The tube was made of a
low-alloying steel, ASTM A 213-T12 [15]. Considering corrosion products in outer tubes and also on flame position, local overheat
will be likely which, according to the pressure inside the tubes, may lead to creep. It is also likely that as a result of using mazut fuel
which consists of a considerable amount of sulfur, the formation of sulfide or sulfate compounds happens and causes preferential
points for corrosion as well as nucleation and crack growth and leading to the destruction of the workpiece. To the best of the authors'
knowledge, there is no previous research on the metallurgical, corrosion and creep properties of ASTM A 213-T12 superheater tubes
utilized in power plants with mazut fuel, and thus, these salient achievements will give further impetus to explore sophisticated
preventive strategies to avert unexpected failure in high-temperature applications.

2. Experimental

The failed ASTM A 213-T12 low-alloying steel tube was utilized for various evaluations. First, metallographic examination of the
samples was performed by an optical microscope (OLYMPUS PMG3). In order to prepare the samples for inspection, the cold mount
was used to hold the samples tightly and wet gritting with SiC emery paper up to 3000 mesh number was performed. Subsequently in
order to achieve a glassy surface of the samples, polishing with a solution of alumina suspension (0.3 μm grain size) accomplished.
Samples were etched in a solution named glycergia (mixing 30 ml of HCl, 20 ml of glycerin and 10 ml of HNO3 at 40 °C temperature).
The samples were then cleaned with ethanol and dried with hot air. In order to determine the main mechanism of the failure,
microscopic observation from the root of the crack obtained by a SEM (CAM SCAN MV2300), equipped with EDS for semi-quanti-
tative measurements of the selected areas. Micro-hardness profiles of the destroyed tube were determined by using a micro-hardness
tester M-400 at 100 g of load. All of the data were reported as the average of at least 10 test results. The XRD analysis was carried out
using Cu Kα radiation (λ = 1.54 Å) and a D8 ADVANCE (Brucker) diffractometer with a scan rate of 0.1° per second and 2θ between
10 and 120°.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Visual Inspection

The failed section of the superheater tubes was visually inspected. Fig. 1 presents an image of the ruptured superheater tube
obtained from the power plant boiler. The tube was located in an area directly exposed to the heat of flames, and thus, was heated by
radiation. Fig. 1a clearly illustrates that the tube wall was ruptured from this section since it has experienced a severe wall thinning
and shows a ductile fracture behavior. Table 1 shows the variation of wall thickness along the tube length on the labeled points of
Fig. 1a. It was observed that the thinnest section had the greatest magnitude of the metal deformation. Rahman et al. [4] proved that
aggravation in wall thickness decrement can cause the existence of loop stresses which are mainly responsible for creep rupture.
Longitude grains and voids at high energy places like grain boundaries can also prove the presence of creep at the workpiece [2,4].
The color and thickness of the crusts formed on the inner and outer surfaces of the tube were also examined. Fig. 1 illustrates

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Fig. 1. (a) Macroscopic image of the ruptured superheater tube (inside). Numbered points show the location of various examinations including
metallographic samples, hardness and thickness measurements, SEM observation of the crack root and XRD analysis. (b) Macroscopic view of the
superheater tube (outside).

Table 1
Thickness of indicated sections of the ruptured superheater tube in Fig. 1.
Number 1 2 3 4 5 6
Thickness (mm) 7.1 7 5.6 3.7 0.8 3.5

macroscopic images of both inside and outside segments of the tube. The internal part lacked noticeable oxide shell and no significant
corrosion had happened on the inner surface (Fig. 1a). On the other hand, there were remarkable corrosion or combustion products
formed on the outer surface (Fig. 1b), which might have been produced due to combustion, oxidation or any other possible corrosive
reactions. The image from the outside of the tube indicated that the shells varied in color and thickness. That part of the tube that had
experienced fracture contained thin black sediments, which might be associated with the formation of magnetite (Fe3O4) phase and
will be discussed in detail later. However, the thick deposit was visible in the intact part of the tube with green, black and white
colors. It was found out that the part with plenty of sediments had been exposed to the flames. Therefore, it can be inferred that the
destruction of the piece was due to the outer segment, indicating that the destruction happened on account of a few factors corre-
sponding to external conditions of superheater pipe.

3.2. Microscopic observations

Fig. 2 shows the optical micrographs taken from different sections of the tube, from the root of crack to the end of the tube,
according to the numbers in Fig. 1a. Fig. 2a illustrates the microstructure of the undamaged part of the tube (section 1) and indicates
that the metal consists of a ferrite matrix containing pearlite phase among it. This is a typical microstructure of the ASTM A 213-T12
steel and is consistent with the previous reports [16]. In the images presented in Fig. 2a to e, it is obvious that a random distribution
of carbide precipitations by approaching to the thinnest section of the wall (section 5 in Fig. 1a), will tend to be more spheroidized
and coarsened (shape of carbides), and finally will lead to totally increased grain size of the microstructure in general. In fact, the
influence of high temperature is clear in the regions closer to the flame which causes prolonged overheating under the transformation
temperature of AC1, 723 °C, which is the austenite transformation temperature line in the iron-carbide phase diagram [17]. At
temperatures below this value, austenite phase cannot be formed, but because of the instability of carbides at this temperature,
spheroidizing of the carbides and creation of micro voids at boundaries or at triple points can happen, which confirms the presence of
creep in the structure [2]. This microstructural deviation of steel from its standard morphology weakens the specimen during the
service.
It was said earlier that the occurrence of reduction induced corrosion phenomenon can cause for exposure of the now less resistant
tubes structure into the higher temperatures. The observed grain coarsening at the samples, especially in those close to the section 5
of the Fig. 2d,e (failed part), is an implicitly illustrator of the fact that these regions of the tube have experienced temperatures
beyond that of which the unharmed parts of the tube have experienced (the temperature that the tube theoretically is expected and is
supposed to work in). Bigger grains are direct products of, greater than ordinary, heat and by occurrence of this phenomena, the
strength of the steels structure will decrease due to the decrement at the length of grain boundaries that are natural barriers against
movement of the dislocations and in another word against to plastic deformation (brittle fracture growth).

3.3. Estimation of creep mechanism

Table 2 summarizes the hardness values of six sections of the superheater tube. It was observed again that the heat-affected
regions possessed lower hardness values. This is attributed to the microstructural changes of the tube at different heating zones, as the
least hardness attained in those parts with the larger percentage of coarsened and spheroidized carbides (sections 5 and 6), as a large
plastic deformation existed in this area. According to metallographic examinations, the tube contained more voids and cavities in the

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Fig. 2. Optical microscopy images taken from different sections of the superheater tube (Numbers indicate those shown in Fig. 1) (Scale bars:
20 μm).

Table 2
Micro-hardness values of indicated sections of the ruptured superheater tube in Fig. 1.
Number 1 2 3 4 5 6
Micro-hardness (HV0.1) 180 172 165 162 158 178

heat-affected part. The criteria to find out if the creep phenomenon has happened in an alloy or not, can be obtained by an ex-
perimental equation for calculating the Larson-Miller parameter for the ASTM A213-T12 alloy as follows [16]:
Hardness (HV) = 595.453–0.012603P (1)
By substituting the hardness of undamaged (180 HV) and failed (158 HV) parts of the tube in the formula, the resulting Larson-
Miller parameter (P) acquires 32,964 for the undamaged and 34,710 for the failed sections. Besides, the basic formula for calculating
the Larson-Miller parameter can be estimated as follows [16]:
P = (1.8 T + 492). (C + log t) (2)
where, T is the temperature in Celsius, t is time in hour and C is a constant equal to 20. The ASTM A213-T12 superheater tube is
supposed to endure 4800 (4786) hours of operation within 500 °C without any failures (which the resulted P from the Eq. (2) is
approximately consistent with the value calculated from relation 1) whereas the failed part of the tubes in this study was failed in
1380 h of operation. Substituting this time in Eq. (2) results in an operational temperature of 560 °C. This clearly shows that the
oxide-coated zones, although received direct radiation from the torch, had a lower degree in comparison with those bearing cracks
(with less sedimentation). The calculated temperature in the wall of the cracked section was considerably (60 °C) higher than the
permitted temperature of the working conditions. Hence, the voids seen amongst the grain boundaries of the cracked zones (Fig. 3)
are capable of being related to the grain boundaries creep movements directly. Creep mechanisms can lead to rupture of the whole
part via generating cracks caused by joining creep voids and their enormous growth [17].
Furthermore, the loop stress (δH), generated by creep, leads to the concentration of stress at some certain points and accelerates

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Fig. 3. Observed creep voids in section 5.

the rupture, which can be calculated as follows [16]:

δH = P (r + h/2)/h (3)

where, P stands for the internal current pressure, r is the pipe's inner radius and h is the wall thickness. Based on the operation's
average steam pressure of 12.25 MPa as well as the pipe geometrical features, the operation loop stress can be calculated equal to
38.33 MPa. The maximum permissible stress for various operational temperatures is listed in Table 3 and demonstrates that op-
erational loop stress regarding the operational temperature at the time of the pipe explosion is far higher than the assumed parameter
in ASME code [16].
Fig. 4 depicts the way of crack progress from the root. It clearly passed through the grains and contained branches at some certain
points. Crack growth is in the form of trans-granular, which is obvious from the crack growth shape and indicates the lack of
brittleness in the form of ductile fracture in the structure [9]. Thus, there was no preference for the cracks to pass through the grain
boundaries. This could also happen as a result of the swift passing of the tube from the range of 375-575 °C which the brittleness
normally is developed, and is generally caused by the formation of either carbides or phosphates [15].
By enhancing the relative amount of S and C elements at the tubes surrounding atmosphere and uncompleted burning of these
elements which in turn will produce and present SOx and CO into the environment, reduction of the protective passive layer of the
tubes surface, that protects it against both high temperature corrosion and deformation, will occur. After cooling the formed brittle
relatively thick layer of sediment crust will fall off the surface of the tube and the protective layer will compose on its outer surface
again. These flaking off and oxidation cycles will happen in many periods and will cause to a preferential region on the tubes surface
for creation of loop stress in it which is the real activator of the creep sliding phenomena. After activation of creep phenomena
existing dislocations will move and relign themselves in dislocations lines and by entrapping at some barrier, sources of dislocation
creation will begin to form and create some extra dislocations to move alongside the barriers. Movement of the dislocations is the real
cause of plastic deformation and by deformation enough and creating needed strain which happens in the form of thinning of the wall
thickness of the tubes, remained section area of the tube will not be able to withstand applied stress and will bust right away.
Fig. 5 presents the SEM fractography images and depicts the type of cracks from the root and their propagation lines. It is evident
that crack propagation obeys the ductile fracture mechanism. Such cracks occur due to the pass of time and as a result of loop stress
caused by heat and is responsible for creep. Since the shapes of cracks are like dimples, the fracture is not of the brittle type [2,18].
Fig. 5. illustrates dimple-like features, existing at the fracture surface of the crack's root sample. These dimples are direct productions
of dislocation lines movement and by reaching to some certain points called barriers of the dislocations can activate some other
sources for creation of some additional dislocations, which in turn will accelerate the fracture growth process. These dimples are
usually major and direct important signs of ductile nature of any resulting happened fracture. There was not any sign of cleavage or
any straight and smooth surface at any part of the fracture surface, indicating the fact that the fracture growth was not of brittle
nature, but rather happened during some prolonged time over a period and not suddenly ruptured. Elongation of the tubes and its
diameters decrement showed a significant amount of plastic deformation at the ruptured piece, and also proves that this failure has
not occurred suddenly, which obviously demonstrates the ductile fracture.

Table 3
The maximum allowable stress for different operating temperature of
seamless tube ASTM A213-T12 [7].
Temperature (°C) Max. allowable stress (MPa)

477.78 55.16
505.56 39.30
533.33 26.20
561.11 16.55
588.89 9.65

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Fig. 4. Crack progress shape in the crack root.

Fig. 5. Cross-sectional SEM fractography images of the crack root region taken at different magnifications.

Fig. 6 illustrates the sediments on the tube and reveals the existence of pores and cracks on it. Heat-affected regions with the
above-mentioned characteristics indicate that over-heating has taken place in the fractured areas. Those areas that do not reveal any
cracks have been covered by a thick crust from outside which, in turn, insulate the metal core against the heat caused by the flame.
Thus, they have a non-uniform distribution of the heat, which results in increasing the absorbed heat for the failure site. Therefore,
the temperature at this site exceeds the permitted critical value. Under these conditions, the creep mechanism becomes activated,
leading to the rupture of the superheater tube [2,19].

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Fig. 6. SEM micrograph of sediments on the surface of superheater (section 5 segment) at two magnifications.

3.4. Corrosion products analysis

Fig. 7a,b presents the EDS results of sedimentation on sections 1 and 5, respectively. Elements like iron, chromium, and

Fig. 7. EDS results of corrosion products from (a) section 5 and (b) section 1 of the crack root.

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Fig. 8. XRD pattern of corrosion products formed on the (a) inner and (b) outer surface of the ruptured tube. (The phases in (b) are as follows: A: Cr
(VO4), B: Cr2O3, C: Cr2(SO4)3, D: FeO, E: FeS, F: CaMoO4, G: Ca(CO3), H: Mo8O23, I: CrVMoO7, J: Ca(SO4), K: Fe2O3).

molybdenum belong to the tube chemical composition. Carbon and sulfur both come from the superheater tube and the fuel in the
form of burning products. Also, calcium and vanadium are components of mazut and can be seen in the fuel analysis.
XRD analysis was consequently conducted to analyze the corrosion products at the inner and outer surface of the sample from the
ruptured area. Fig. 8a shows the XRD pattern of the inner side of the tubes and clearly indicates that there is not any compound other
than those that are from the steel's own composition or their normally produced oxidation product. This pattern once again clearly
proves that any reason for failure relies on the outer side of the tube and not inside it. Fig. 8b shows the XRD pattern of the corrosion
products of the outer surface. The depicted compounds are either the corrosion products of the elements that exist in the tubes
composition or are combustion products of the flame that have possibly settled after cooling the combustion chamber. Apart from
FeO, Cr2O3, FeS and Mo8O23 which cannot be related to the signs or causes of final failure, existence of the following compounds can
be considered in greater detail since they might have a great impact and be the key reasons for how the rupture procedure has begun:
CaCO3, CaMoO4, Cr(VO4), Cr2(SO4).
The reason for this claim is that SO4 and VO4 can form sediments containing chromium, thus they are capable of destructing the
passive and oxidized chromium layer on the outer surface. This can directly decrease the endurance of the alloy against the oxidant
and high-temperature environment surrounding the superheaters [19]. In fact, identifying the peak associated with Cr2O3 is clear
evidence that a portion of the protecting passive layer still remains on the walls. Therefore, the formation of such sediments plus the
resulting reactions cannot be considered as the only cause of the rupture of the tube [20,21]. Due to the immunity of tube in the
oxidant environment, which is caused by the existence of Cr2O3 along with other variants of chromium oxide on the steel's surface, it
can be concluded that the formation of chromium compounds indicates that the environment is not one of oxidant, but rather
reductionary. In such environments, especially in those containing sulfur, a passive chromium oxide layer is highly capable of
decomposition and as a result of the formation of other sorts of sediments such as sulfides or sulfates, it can lose its protecting role
[20,22,23].
It is obvious that the cause of the failure can be related to a specific kind of corrosion called “reduction induced corrosion”
[19,23], which happens at environment lacking sufficient oxygen. Considering the fact that the reason for implementation of ASTM
A213-T12 steels for superheater uses is its resistance against corrosion and deformation at high temperatures because of the chro-
mium oxide passive layer and certain amount of molybdenum at the structure, reductionary environment at near enough places to the
torch or fire and in presence of sulfur or carbon will cause to this kind of corrosion begin to be activated and take out protective
elements like chromium and molybdenum through the structure as in some other chromium or molybdenum compounds like sulfates,
carbides, sulfides or calcites. Burning sulfur or carbon can produce SO2 and CO in the surrounding atmosphere. At high enough
temperature, SO2 can decompose the chromium oxide protective layer and by the formation of sediments like Cr2(SO4)3 diminish the

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immunity of the tube. CaSO4 or any other sediments containing sulfur can accelerate this kind of corrosion because enhancement of
reduction potential of the environment will push and force the protective parts of the tube's surface to decompose, and hence, reduce
the resistance of the tube. Sulfur can weaken or destroy all amount of protective layer by formation of high-concentrated regions of
chromium. Consequently, by transformation of these regions into metal-sulphate components, chromium will be extracted from the
structure [23].
In addition, molybdenum is usually added to the composition of the alloy, because it elevates both heat stability and resistance
against cavitation [24]. In normalized microstructure of ASTM A213-T12 alloy, the formation of CaMoO4 reduces its stability at high
temperatures by decomposing molybdenum through the structure [23]. The formed calcite which can be seen as a fine white color
layer with unarmed eyes is not responsible for the failure of the tube on its own. All sorts of sediments together gather around at the
healthy side of the tube, which is at the fireside of superheater and can reach to thickness of 2 mm. This high thickness of crust can
lead to the formation of an undesirable insulation layer. This layer prevents a homogenous distribution of heat and can gradually
activate creep mechanisms [2]. At first stages, sediments form all over the tube surface at the same rate and thickness. However, in
the areas near the torch, due to the high potentials of the SO or CO, we observe the formation of molybdenum, chromium or iron
oxidation or especially CaSO4 sediments. These oxidations possess an adhesive nature, which leads to the formation of the hard and
coherent sediments to the tube's outer surface [2]. Having passed several cycles of heating and cooling, the tube's wall that is in
contact with the sediments gets thinner and thinner as the sediment oxidations get loose, leave and shed from the area. Afterward,
this zone of the tube turns to be the favorable area for loop stress to activate and cracks to appear. Since the protective layers of
molybdenum and chromium have corroded and the alloy's resistance has dramatically faded away, tube starts bearing creep me-
chanisms and appearing micro-voids in its structure. The final stage is an increment of the heat and unification of the voids as a result
of loop stress that causes a stress concentration, which is now at its highest point. This, in turn, will lead to the start and growth of the
cracks, which at the end by growing enough size of the crack will lead to the sudden and final rupture of the tube [25–28].

4. Conclusion and recommendations

Superheater tubes are one of the major and crucial parts of power plant boilers and often can cause the shutdown of the whole
facility because of their failure during their service period. In this research, by investigating the structure of an ASTM A213-T12
superheater tube in micro- and macroscopic scales and hardness measurement of the workpiece alongside its rupture line, it was
unraveled that the damaged section comprised of larger grains with excessive voids, and thinned tube wall, along with ductile
fracture and obvious variations in metallographic and mechanical properties of the cracked region. In addition, no obvious, sig-
nificant crust layer was seen at the inside part of the tube, while there was a thick and very adherent crust (corrosion product) on its
outside section, indicating the occurrence of the corrosion on the outside part of the tube. These events, by taking chromium and
molybdenum out of steels structure, make the tube more susceptible to a decrement in thickness of tubes wall and both diminished
protection against reductionary and sulfur-induced corrosion and creating of loop stress in the wall of the tube, which is the major
factor to cause creep phenomenon to begin. Once creep has been started, due to the fact that both corrosion and high-temperature
protection has been reduced, ductile and slow propagation of creep voids and cracks was activated and led to thinning on that area of
the tube which caused the failure of tube by the internal pressure of fluid with an eventual bursting the tube.
As a consequence, a few practical recommendations are put forward to minimize the rupture on the superheater tube:

1) The use of other types of steels with higher alloying elements.

2) Improvement of the fuel combustion to prevent reductionary ambience around the tubes and to completely burn the fuel.
3) The use of the mazut fuel without or less impurities such as sulfur or replacing mazut with pure natural gas, if possible.
4) Cladding the sensitive and critical regions of the superheater tube such as welded sections, corners, and areas close to the nuzzles
with plates that are more endurable against higher temperatures and corrosive environments.

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