BOILER TUBE FAILURES

IN-SERVICE INSPECTIONS OF CONVENTIONAL POWER PLANT

Practical Background Information

Hands-On Experience and Information

whilst employed by the Plant Life
Integrity department:
RWE Power International
Owner/Operator of Conventional Power
Stations

Damage Mechanisms
Overheating
Waterside Corrosion
Fatigue
mechanical, thermo-mechanical, thermal,
corrosion, creep
Fireside Corrosion
Oxidation
Erosion
Mechanical

OVERHEATING

Short term overheating

Short term Overheating

Temperature transient reduces materials strength below the applied
pressure stress
Appearance
Thin edge tensile failure leading to an axial fishmouth rupture
Swelling prior to thinning, evident in cracking of external / internal scale

Location

Furnace wall, Pendant S/H over furnace, Radiant S/H

Causes

Starvation of steam/water flow

Blockages from debris
Waterlogging and inadequate condensate dispersal/drainage procedures
Overfiring compared to steam flow e.g. loss of HP heaters
Leak upstream of failure
Drum level / carry under

Short term Overheating

Solutions

Solutions are normally operational. New tubes will not prevent further failures
Drainage procedures
Matching heat input with loading rate
Loading rates, turbine following boiler

Damage tends to be more localised than long term overheating

Austenitics more tolerant than ferritic

Exceptions

Austenitic tubes can give rise to thick edge short term overheating failures
Accumulation of short term overheating causes damage through oxidation
and materials softening. Material replacement may offer some improvement.

Long term Overheating

Long term Overheating

Creep rupture due to sustained stress at elevated temperatures
Appearance
Thick edge failures leading to axial rupture
Thick oxide which may be crazed local to failure often with some associated
fireside corrosion
Relatively low ductility at failure with little measurable swelling

Location
Adjacent to material or size transitions. S/H and R/H
Original Top dead space header stubs and tubes

Long term Overheating

Causes
Operation beyond design life, poor steam temperature distributions,
elevated gas temperatures
Increased stress due to wastage and ovality stresses
Rogue material
Partial blockage

Solutions
Tube replacement or upgrade to remove damaged tubing

Damage is more widespread than short-term overheating

Replacements may be targeted by NDT oxide thickness measurements
Reduction of steam temperatures and pressures
Alteration to boiler design and combustion

WATERSIDE CORROSION

Waterside Corrosion
Control of boiler chemistry is fundamental to boiler availability
The preservation of a thin passive oxide film on the bore of the tubes is key to
preventing corrosion
Chemical species fed to the boiler concentrate as most are not carried over in
the steam

Control of chemistry - pH, Conductivity, Oxygen

Blow down
Chemical additions to the drum
De-aeration, Physical & Chemical

Chemistry problems have the potential to cause very widespread

problems throughout the furnace with large impacts on availability and
maintenance

Waterside Corrosion

ON-Load Corrosion

Caustic Attack
Caused by the concentration of NaOH
Localised boiling causes concentration factor of 10,000
The caustic causes corrosion by dissolving the oxide/metal

Deposits can also cause overheating failures

Thick waterside deposits reduced heat transfer causing the
tube wall to overheat
Oxide can be deposited in the tube with no significant tube
corrosion due to the transport of corrosion products from the
feed system

Waterside Corrosion
Solutions
Control of Boiler Chemistry
Routine acid cleaning to remove deposits and prevent
concentration mechanisms
Ensuring maintenance of adequate circulation

FATIGUE

Fatigue Failures

Fatigue Failures
Crack initiation and growth under cyclic loads
Nearly always low cycle fatigue rather than high cycle (<104) and loading
normally of yield level and above.
Ductility exhausted in 100-1000s of stress cycles.
Failures are not initiation controlled. In welded components initiating
defects are normally present. Cracking propagates at stress
concentrations such as notches and changes of section.
Locations of stress concentration defects.
Weld toes, Attachments, Bends, Lower furnace walls, Economiser, Header
stub welds.
Pressure stresses are not normally a significant contribution to the loading
mechanism.
Understanding the causes of fatigue cracking depends on understanding
the loading mechanism.

Fatigue Failures
High cycle fatigue - vibrational loads
Flow induced vibration.
Attemperator nozzles.
Thermo- Mechanical Fatigue
Loads normally caused by constrained thermal
expansion
Differential expansion.

Fatigue Failures

Corrosion Fatigue

Pad weld repair showing

renewed corrosion fatigue
crack growth

Fatigue Failures
Solutions
Provide additional flexibility through modifications. Increasing
flexibility is normally a better solution than increasing strength
of design.
Take operational means to avoid thermal shocks
Boiler re-circulation through economiser
Control of forced cooling procedures
NDT and repair at overhauls, Combinations of MPI and
Ultrasonics at targeted locations is effective at managing
failures
Chemical controls where appropriate for Corrosion Fatigue

Fatigue Failures
Creep Fatigue
Joint action of creep damage and fatigue damage
From Creep crack growth due to a cyclic stress at
temperature enhanced fatigue
Distribution tends to match temperature distribution
High temperature pipe and header attachments

FIRESIDE CORROSION

Fireside Corrosion
Appearance
Thin edge split of the tube
Typically a third to half wall failure in superheater tubes
Typically 1-2 mm on reheater tubes and thinner on stainless reheater tubes

Thick fused deposits on ferritic tubes

Pitted "orange peel" appearance or corrosion flats on Austenitic tubes

Location
High temperature section of Final S/H and R/H
Localised to tube attachments C+T, wrapper tubes

Fireside Corrosion
Causes - S/H & R/H corrosion
Molten sulphate attack
Formation of Na, K trisulphate. Strong evidence of a correlation with coal CI

High metal temperatures

High metal temps melt sulphate. Bell shape corrosion curve, peak 650-750C
Combined with accelerated oxidation
High gas temperature, gas laning, tube alignment

Combination with creep

Materials factors
Carburisation, inadequate materials, poor HT
310 2.5 x better than 18Cr8Ni Steel ??

Fireside Corrosion
Solutions
NDT thickness testing.
EMATs on ferritic tubes

Materials replacement judged on remanent life assessment

Materials Upgrade - Co-extruded/Higher grade materials
Reduction of metal temperatures (S/H R/H steam temps)

Furnace Wall Corrosion

Causes -Furnace Wall Corrosion
Reducing furnace atmosphere adjacent to furnace wall
This causes sulphidation attack H2S, CO & HCl.

Fuel composition
There is some correlation between coal CI content and corrosion but less
than for R/H and S/H corrosion

Combustion environment is the most important factor

Poor combustion, flame impingement

Low furnace excess air levels, NOx abatement
Worn or poorly adjusted burners
PF Quality
Proximity of burners to side wall, flame length and distance from rear wall

Furnace Wall Corrosion

Mechanical Solutions

NDT thickness testing

EMATs on ferritic tubes

Replacement
Materials Upgrade - Co-extruded
Weld cladding, plasma coatings

Combustion Solutions

Improvement of combustion to avoid localised reducing conditions

Excess air levels, PF quality, blanket air on furnace walls, burner
maintenance
Fuel specification Improvement

Corrosion may be economically the best option due to savings in excess

air, NOX

OXIDATION

Oxidation

Accelerated Oxidation
Oxide growth rates normally decrease
with oxide thickness
Temperature transients cause cracking
of the oxide and spallation and
increases oxidation rate
Excessive temperatures produce non
protective oxides
NDT preparation
Oxidation and wall loss also occurs on
the steam side
Reheater more susceptible

Stainless steel internal oxide spalling

Oxide can gather in bends and cause

blockage

Steam oxidation producing laminated

scale on internal bore of 2Cr1Mo
reheater tubing

EROSION

Erosion
Dust Erosion

Proportional to:

Ash wt.%,
Hardness of ash Quartz content
Angle of impact
Gas velocity to the 3-4 power

Erosion sensitive to coal diet and load

Details of design that cause locally increased velocity and laning of dust
Slagging and dust build up causing gas laning

Solutions

Normally managed by inspection and shielding

Sootblower Erosion

Mainly as above but velocity provided by s/b

Largely managed by s/b maintenance and shielding

MECHANICAL / MANUFACTURING

Mechanical - Impact
Slag falls mainly on ash slope and around the ash throat
Slagging coals
Operation at base load with low excess air levels

Outage and maintenance damage

Removal of slag & ash bridges
Sootblower lances
grinding, arc strikes, burning off attachments

Mechanical - Fretting
Fretting is the wear caused by small movements between contacting
metal surfaces
Rubbing contact removes protective oxides
Fretting wear occurs mostly on contact of similar metals. Does not require
high contact loads. Stainless more prone than low alloy steels.

Location
Vibrational contact between tubes in platen superheaters. Finger fretting on
stainless element wraps.

Other Mechanisms
Materials defects

ERW defects, tube laps and scores, incorrect material/heat treatment

Weld defects

Welding defects, pinholes, lack of fusion, porosity etc.

Reheat cracking, hot cracking, Hydrogen cracking, lamella tearing

Transition weld failure

Materials transition failure in a brittle manner along the weld interface

Carbide migration leads to decarburised zone. Differential thermal expansion.

Tri-axial constraint

Stress Corrosion

Initiation and growth of cracks under stress and corrosion

Austenitic Stainless steel increased due to sensitisation
Ferritic steels of high hardness, bolting materials.

Thank You.

For further information please contact Irvine.Gilbert@gmail.com