By S.

Turcott – Steel Image

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IS YOUR BOILER or
HEATER CREEPING?
Thermal degradation of steel tubes and FMR inspection
For heaters and boilers used in the refining, petrochemical and energy industries, creep is a
constant concern. It keeps reliability engineers up at night and inspectors busy during
shutdowns. Creep degradation limits the temperatures and pressures at which each material can
safely be operated. If tubes run hotter than intended, over time they will experience thermal
degradation and eventually creep failure. Understanding the mechanisms of thermal
degradation and the role of field metallography replication (FMR) in detecting this damage is
critical for heater/boiler reliability

Each material type degrades in a different way. For carbon and low alloy steels (T11, T22),
thermal degradation occurs first by spheroidization, then by creep damage. Spheroidization is
an overly technical term that describe the carbides changing shape after prolonged overheating.
New steel tubes will comprise of long, fine lamellar carbides within its “pearlite” structure. If the
steel overheats to temperatures between 750°F and 1300°F (400-700°C), these carbides
gradually turn round, scatter and grow. As this happens the steel degrades, growing softer and
weaker.
New Steel Spheroidization

Carbides turn
Carbides scatter
round
and further
Carbides
coarsen
Long, fine strands of coarsen
“lamellar” carbides
within pearlite

Level C Level D Level E

Creep becomes concern

Is Your Boiler or Heater Creeping? 1 of 5
 By S. Turcott – Steel Image
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Although the steel is weakened, tubes are rarely retired based upon spheroidization alone.
However spheroidization is a precursor to creep and can be used to assess creep risk. Advanced
spheroidization means that enough time and temperature had been present that, if there had
also been sufficient stress, creep damage may have occurred. Creep is caused by the
temperature and stress surpassing the threshold at which metal begins to slowly change shape.
Over months or years, creep voids will eventually form within the steel, grow, connect and form
cracks. Creep damage severity is rated between stages one through five. If there was a stage six
rating, it would be called “too late” or creep failure.

Creep Damage
Macro-cracks
Creep
then form!
failure

Voids
Creep voids grow/connect
form to form micro-
(black spots) cracks

Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5

(1000x) (1000x) (100x) Failure

For any heater or boiler, constant diligence is needed to ensure the boilers are not overheating
and suffering thermal degradation. Classic inspection methods such as wall thickness
measurements, strapping/go-no-go gauges, hardness measurements and assessing for cracks
can be used to detect the late stages of thermal degradation. These assess for wall loss,
diametrical growth/bulging, softening and crack formation. They are useful because they can
survey large portions of the vessel in a relatively short period of time. Yet they do not detect
spheroidization or creep damage directly – that can only be detected non-destructively by field
metallography.

Field metallography replication (FMR) is the (a) most sensitive method of assessing for thermal
degradation, (b) can detect/rate spheroidization and (c) is the only method of assessing for early-
stage creep. It is the latter ability, detecting creep at all its stages, that makes it indispensable
for the inspection of heaters and boilers. Evaluated sites are polished to a mirror finish,
chemically etched and then replicated to create an accurate mold of the microstructure. The
replications can then be examined using a lab microscope, assessing the tubes for
microstructural and creep damage.

Is Your Boiler or Heater Creeping? 2 of 5

 By S. Turcott – Steel Image
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Grind, polish and etch Replicate (mold) Assess for

site of interest prepared damage
surface (400-1000x)

Prepared area
Examine
replication

For example, creep modeling had identified concerns at high stress locations on a fifty-year old
heater with P11 (1¼Cr, ½Mo) low alloy manifolds. During shutdown, field metallography of the
manifold found its structure to exhibit notable spheroidization damage (Level E), supporting the
concern of creep damage.

Advanced Spheroidization (Level E)

Precursor to creep damage

Heater Manifold

Replication, 400x

Evaluation of the predicted high stress sites found that several of the manifold lugs had indeed
formed creep cracks at the welds. The largest of the cracks measured approximately 0.16 inches
(4mm) in length. The cracks and creep voids were located along the weld fusion line. This
indicated that other high stress sites would also be at risk of having formed creep damage.

Of note, creep cracking had not been detected by MPI or UT inspection completed beforehand.
Even when completed again, this time knowing that creep cracks were present, these methods
failed to resolve the creep damage. Therefore, these methods may not reliably detect the creep
damage until it has become more severe.

Is Your Boiler or Heater Creeping? 3 of 5

 By S. Turcott – Steel Image
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Creep cracks at
lug weld toe

Lug

Heater Manifold
After Preparation

Base Metal
Weld
Metal

Creep cracks at
weld fusion line

Heater and boiler tubes associated with refining, petrochemical and energy generation are
designed to operate at temperatures such that they last decades without issue. Yet if the tubes
operate at temperatures hotter than intended, they can accumulate thermal damage and fail by
creep. Which is why inspection is a critical aspect of equipment reliability. Amongst the arsenal
of inspection methods, field metallography replication (FMR) is the only method that can rate
the precursors to creep damage and detect early-stage creep. Field metallography is
recommended for inspection of boiler/heater components that either (a) are suspected as having
been operating within the creep regime or (b) inspection finds indicators of thermal damage such
as softening, thinning or diametric growth/bulging.

My second book!
Coming late 2022

Simple yet practical

introduction to steel.

Is Your Boiler or Heater Creeping? 4 of 5

 By S. Turcott – Steel Image
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Stage 5 Creep crack at Weld

weld fusion line Metal

Manifold HAZ
a) Creep Crack, ~75x

Creep voids along fusion line

b) Weld Fusion Line, Adjacent. Crack, 400x

Is Your Boiler or Heater Creeping? 5 of 5