How to identify, prevent waterside failure

mechanisms in your HRSGs

By David G Daniels, Mechanical & Materials Engineering
(www.mmengineering.com)
None of the waterside failure mechanisms found in heat-recovery steam generators (HRSGs)
including flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC), corrosion fatigue, thermal fatigue, and under-deposit
corrosion)are exclusive to this type of boiler. However, failures attributed to these mechanisms
have occurred more frequently at some combined-cycle plants than at fossil-fired steam/electric
stations. Even relatively new HRSGs have suffered damage.
Surveys show that about 70% of the HRSG failures are water-chemistry-related, compared to
only about 30% in conventional boilers. Reliable operation of HRSGs demands close attention to
water chemistry both when the unit is operating and in lay-up (short term and long term). Also
important: thorough inspections during annual outages to identify problems before failures occur
and correction is possible.
The principal waterside failure mechanisms are discussed in individual sections below. Guidance is
provided to plant operations personnel on where a given failure mechanism typically occurs and
under what circumstancesso you know where to look during the inspection. Next, youll see
what the damage looks like to enable positive and rapid identification. How to correct the
problem wraps up the coverage.
1. Flow-accelerated corrosion
Where failures occur. FAC can occur in almost all HRSG piping that contains water (single
phase) and water/steam mixtures (two phase). It is most common in and around the lowpressure (l-p) drum and l-p evaporator. Because water is an essential part of the FAC mechanism,
it cannot occur in superheated steam lines.
What it looks like. Single-phase FAC can be described as an orange peel texture (Fig 1). A
close-up view of the corroded area often appears as multiple comet-shaped divots in the metal.
The damage starts and stops suddenly along the length of the piping but is often widespread
around the circumference. It is more common in elbows, tees, reducers, or places where water or
water/steam mixtures impinge on a metal surface.
Two-phase FAC occurs in piping containing wet or saturated steam. It has a tiger stripe
appearance from magnetite being removed and deposited in different areas by the water/steam
mixture (Fig 2). In a cross-section under a metallograph, two-phase FAC often creates what has
been described as box magnetite.
The mechanism. Several factors combine to create FAC, which advances rapidly after it first
begins. However, the reaction slows with time. Heres why: The high solubility of Fe+2 in
feedwater drives the mechanism.
Note that pure magnetite (Fe3O4) contains one Fe+2 for every Fe+3 in the structure. As the
Fe+2 goes into solution during the corrosion process, the concentration of the protective Fe+3
in the iron oxide deposit increases, thereby slowing the rate of metal deterioration.
o

Impact of alloys. Other oxides can substitute for Fe+3 in the deposit and have the same
result. Most common is chrome oxide. The presence of even 0.1% chromium in the metal
can make a significant difference between a pipe that has significant FAC and one that has
none. In areas susceptible to FAC, alloys containing 1% chrome often are specified.
Molybdenum has a similar effect.

Piping geometry and velocity. While magnetite is ubiquitous in HRSGs, FAC is not. Obviously, there is more to FAC than just the solubility of magnetite in feedwater. How quickly
the Fe+2 migrates into solution determines the rate at which FAC proceeds, and this is
influenced by flow velocity and piping geometry. There is no minimum velocity for FAC to
occur; however, it increases with increasing velocity. Where steam forms in the piping,
conditions become more erosive, increasing the likelihood of FAC. Flow disruptions also are
critical (Fig 3).

Water temperature is another important factor. As it increases, the solubility of magnetite

increases. The solubility of single-phase FAC peaks in the 265F-300F range, two-phase
between 300F and 390Fdepending on which research you read. Above these temperature
ranges, the characteristics of the oxide formation and the permeability of the base metal to
hydrogen decrease the FAC rate. This does not mean that FAC cannot occur at higher
temperatures, only that the rate is lower than it would be at lower temperatures. For more
detail, see FAC and cavitation. . . , COMBINED CYCLE Journal, Spring 2004; available at
www.psimedia.info/ccjarchives.htm.

Early detection. High iron concentrations in the HRSG are one indication that corrosion, particularly FAC, may be occurring. The Fe+2 in solution can readily form magnetite, so simple
qualitative testssuch as the Millipore filter testprovide the information you need.
Prevention probably is an unrealistic goal when discussing FAC; minimization is more practical,
because the mechanisms that create the condition cannot be completely eliminated. The allferrous metallurgy of most HRSGs allows the use of chemical treatment to minimize FAC. For
single-phase systems, this consists of increasing the pH and eliminating the use of oxygen
scavengers. Both minimize the formation of Fe+2 in the oxide layer. Typically, a pH of 9.6 is
considered the minimum. The elimination of an oxygen scavenger alone generally is sufficient to
maintain the oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) of the feedwater close to zero (slightly positive
is thought to be best).
2. Corrosion fatigue
Where failures occur. Corrosion fatigue in HRSGs is most common in and around economizers,
though it also is possible in evaporator sections. It is characterized by multiple failures; that is, if
you have one, youre likely to have several more, before all the affected tubing fails.
What it looks like. Corrosion fatigue appears as a multitude of small oxide-filled cracks (Fig 4).
The microscopic appearance of the cracks varies as the relative contributions of corrosion and
stress vary. Where stresses are high, cracks will be relatively straight and narrowlike thermalfatigue cracks. Where corrosion is more prevalent, the cracks will be branched, transgranular, and
wideroften with areas of undercutting in the crack.
Chemical cleaning, particularly with inhibited hydrochloric acid, has long been tied to an increase
in corrosion-fatigue failures in conventional boilers. While the cleaning of HRSGs with inhibited
hydrochloric acid is not a common practice, acidic species in the feedwater traced to
contamination can produce the same results. Chloride and sulfate can concentrate at the bottom
of the crack, accelerating the corrosion aspect of corrosion fatigue.
The mechanism. Corrosion fatigue, as the name implies, is a combination of two failure modes:
a chemical or corrosion mode and a mechanical or fatigue mode. Every time tube metal temperatures cycle from cold to hot, stresses occur at attachment welds or at tube penetrations in the
headers. Stress cracks the protective iron oxide layer in the tubing, exposing fresh metal to the
water. This then becomes a site for corrosion products to accumulate and concentrate. Repeated
cycles of stress under similar chemistry conditions act like a wedge holding the crack open.

Stresses that cause corrosion fatiguelike thermal fatigueoften are initiated by attachments,
bends, or constraints. The difference is that the stresses are not sufficient to cause failure from
thermal fatigue, but are sufficient to weaken the metal, making it susceptible to further
corrosion.
The corrosion aspect of corrosion fatigue can come from several sources, including: pH, dissolved
oxygen (particularly during startup), contamination, chemical cleaning solvent residuals
(essentially hydrochloric acid), and treatment chemicals.
Early detection. Certain designs are more susceptible to corrosion fatigue than others. Because
some of these designs are relatively new, participation in user group meetings, such as the HRSG
Users Group (www.hrsgusers.org), allows you to learn about designs that may have issues and
what has been done to remedy them.
Prevention. The best way to address corrosion fatigue is to modify areas of high stress concentration in a manner that lessens or eliminates the potential for the problem. Also, keep in
mind that monitoring and proper steam chemistry, particularly during startup, are critical to
prevention.
3. Thermal fatigue
Where failures occur. Thermal-fatigue cracks are found in tight tube bends and tube-to-header
welds. Stresses can be created during operation or be residual stresses remaining from manufacture. Dissimilar metal welds and the heat-affected zone of the weld act as stress concentrators
and are particularly susceptible.
What it looks like. The cracks are straight and narrow and often circumferential to the weld or
stress concentrator (Fig 5). They are oxide-filled, similar to corrosion-fatigue cracks, but there is
little evidence of branching or pitting.
The mechanism. Differential thermal expansion between a tube and header, or at a weld,
causes sufficient bending stress to crack the metal. The crack is filled quickly with oxidation products that prevent it from closing completely when the stress is relieved. The cycle continues until
the crack is through-wall.
Early detection. Finite-element-analysis tools can be used to locate susceptible areas. Nondestructive examination (NDE) technologiessuch as dye penetrant and magnetic particle testing
also can be used to locate cracks. More extensive temperature monitoring may indicate trouble
areas. Additional thermocouples should be considered.
Prevention. Sudden changes in tube temperatures during startup often produce the stresses
capable of causing thermal fatigue. Operators can reduce the likelihood of thermal fatigue by
implementing conservative startup procedures and limiting ramp rates. However, this often
conflicts with environmental constraints on the unit. The best prevention involves design changes
that eliminate, or at least simplify, the structural interaction between components subject to
transient temperature differentials. Specific issues to examine include these:
o

Tube flexibility between headers. This is critical to preventing thermal fatigue. Stresses are
influenced by the arrangement of headers, tubes, and interconnecting pipes in each section
of the HRSG.

Interconnecting piping between the high-pressure evaporator outlet headers and the h-p
steam drum. As noted earlier, during startup, the front-row tubes absorb heat and establish
circulation more quickly than back rows, where conditions result in tube dry-out. This can
create a banana-shaped evaporator. Interconnecting piping must be flexible enough to
accommodate this difference in tube temperatures.

Use of common headers with division walls (split headers) for tubes comprising different
sections of the condensate or steam process. Thermal stresses developed in split headers
may be tolerable during normal operation, but can be extremely damaging during transient
operation.

Tube-to-header welds. The type of fusion welds that attach tubes to headers and vessels
can influence significantly the life of components subject to fatigue or creep conditions.
Some experts claim that the fatigue life of full-penetration welds is at least 10 times greater
than that of partial-penetration welds. Others disagree. See Review basics of tube-toheader joints before writing specs, 2005 Outage Handbook, COMBINED CYCLE Journal,
Summer 2005; available at www.psimedia.info/ccjarchives.htm.

Reheater and superheater materials and drains. Reheaters and superheaters for cycling
HRSGs require special attention, because of their susceptibility to creep damage. Higher
chromium materials, such as P91, and larger condensate drains often are recommended.
However, beware that P91 presents its own challenges, particularly in welding to carbon
steel.

4. Under-deposit corrosion mechanisms

Under-deposit corrosion mechanisms include hydrogen damage, phosphate attack, and oxygen
pitting. They are grouped together because they are all manifestations of the same problemthe
concentration of an undesirable chemical species under a protective deposit (Fig 6). The difference lies in the chemical being concentrated.
Where failures occur. Under-deposit corrosion can occur in any tubing in contact with water,
regardless of location. However, oxygen pitting tends to occur more often in economizers and l-p
evaporators; phosphate attack is more common in high-temperature sections. High-heat areas
are most susceptible to under-deposit corrosion, as are flow disruptions in the tubessuch as
welds or bends.
Some corrosion occurs while the plant is offline, but more occurs as the unit is restarted and
systems are fed oxygenated water. Even plants with auxiliary-heated deaerators can inadvertently inject oxygen water if an undersize deaerator cant keep up with the high demand for
feedwater.
What it looks like. The appearance of this type of corrosion can vary depending on what is
concentrating under the deposit. By the time the leak occurs, the deposit that created the
corrosion may be gone. But if there is under-deposit corrosion in one area, it usually can be
found a few feet further down the tube or in an adjacent tube. Heres how to identify the failure
mechanism:
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Oxygen pitting typically is broad and shallow and creates a pinhole leak at the thinnest point
(Fig 7). If the tubercle is available for analysis you probably will find magnetite and
hematite as well as chloride, which accelerates oxygen pitting.

Hydrogen damage. The metal, when etched, has a very characteristic pattern of
intergranular cracking or fissures created by a lack of pearlite at the grain boundaries (Fig
8). With finned tubes, the characteristic thick-lipped failure cannot occur.

Phosphate attack creates a very hard maricite (NaFePO4) deposit. It is also characteristic
for the deposit to contain distinct black, red, and white areas. The deposits typically are
undercut (similar to acid corrosion) and there is a very sharp edge or boundary to the
deposit on both sides, outside of which there is no corrosion. This is because the corrosion
is extremely flow- and heat-flux-sensitive.

The mechanism. All under-deposit corrosion obviously begins with a deposit. The source of the
deposit can be mill scale dating back to unit installation, hematite deposits from return condensate, or contamination from water-treatment plant upsets. Regardless of the source, once the
deposit is formed it creates an area underneath that is chemically different than the bulk water in
the tube and this generates the corrosion cell.
Oxygen pitting is very well understood because it occurs in so many situations both inside and
outside the power industry. In oxygen pitting, there are instances of high dissolved oxygen in the
bulk water and low dissolved oxygen under the porous deposit. This creates an electrochemical
potential between the bulk water and the area underneath the deposit, thereby producing
corrosion.
Dissolved oxygen can be absorbed into the water during a shutdown when water is left in the
HRSG and the vents are open. Also, it can be entrained in the feedwater, particularly during
startup when the deaerator or deaerating condenser do not function properly or are overwhelmed
by the amount of aerated feedwater that is required. Heating the oxygenated water during
startup accelerates the corrosion.
Hydrogen damage requires three things to occur: rapid formation of hydrogen gas (typically from
a low-pH excursion), a deposit, and heat. The low-pH condition results in iron and iron oxide
corrosion and produces significant amounts of hydrogen. Contamination, particularly chlorides,
may create a localized low-pH condition even when the bulk water in the HRSG is alkaline.
The presence of a hard deposit prevents the nascent hydrogen from dissolving into the bulk water
and forces the hydrogen to gravel through the metal along the pearlite grains. Here the carbon in
the pearlite reacts with the hydrogen to form methane, distorting the ferrite grains and creating
voids or fissures. The heat both facilitates the diffusion of hydrogen through the metal and its
reaction with the carbon.
For a one-time event, some damage may occur, but the metal will most likely only be weakened.
Repeated instances of hydrogen damage may be required before a failure occurs. Alternatively,
the damage may attack an area already thinned by another under-deposit corrosion mechanism
and fail at that point alone.
Phosphate attack is the result of a reaction of magnetite with disodium phosphate, monosodium
phosphate, or sodium hexametaphosphate to form maricite. Trisodium phosphate does not
appear to react in this way and, to date, no phosphate attack episodes have been documented
where only trisodium phosphate was used in an HRSG.
Phosphate attack can occur in several placesparticularly at tube bends and areas that may be
directly impacted by the use of duct burners. Poor circulation, particularly on startup, is sufficient
to create phosphate attack in tubing.
Early detection. Traditionally, the thinning and corrosion created by under-deposit corrosion
mechanisms could be found by ultrasonic thickness testing of bare tubes. For finned tubing,
examination by borescope may provide indication of the presence of a deposit or its size, but
current methods do not permit examination of the depth of the deposits.
For hydrogen damage, some success has been reported with ultrasonic examination techniques
on bare tubes, but here again, this would not work on finned tubes. Replacement of the entire
section may be the only option when hydrogen embrittlement is found.

Preventing under-deposit corrosion is very simple: Get the waterside tube surface clean and
keep it clean. Remove deposits and on-going corrosion stops, at least for a time. Chemical cleaning is the best way to remove deposits. Preoperational cleaning is still required to remove mill
scale and other surface corrosion on many HRSGs. This step often is overlooked or deleted in the
mad rush to get the unit operating. Not a good idea.
Similarly, using the proper feedwater and evaporator chemistry with good monitoring can prevent
many harmful deposits from forming in the first place. Once the deposits are formed, even good
chemistry programs may not be sufficient to prevent under-deposit corrosion.
Many of the prevention strategies for oxygen pitting require capital investment. For example, you
cant expect the direct feeding of a chemical oxygen scavenger to remove high levels of dissolved
oxygen from your feedwater until the l-p drum begins generating steam. Dissolved-oxygen
removal can be achieved with a startup vacuum deaerator or even a catalytic oxygen removal
system. It could also be as simple as piping a steam source from another unit to provide steam
for deaeration during startup. Good lay-up practices can also help significantly, by maintaining
deaerated water in the HRSG during shutdown.
Phosphate attack can be minimized by eliminating the use of disodium phosphate or sodium
hexametaphosphate (which becomes disodium phosphate in solution). Only trisodium phosphate
should be used for HRSG evaporator treatment. The other phosphate compounds often are used
in vendor-supplied liquid phosphate products, so check the material safety data sheet or ask the
vendor if you can use these. ccj oh
Idiosyncrasies of HRSG design, preoperational handling, and startup procedures
can impact failure mechanisms
Waterside corrosionas well as gas-side corrosionsometimes can be traced back to the
fabrication shop. One cause is poor storage procedures for tubesoutside in high-moisture
locations, for example. In other instances, oxidation starts because metal surfaces are not
passivated or protected against the elements for shipment and storage at the plant site prior
to installation.
However, corrosion that occurs prior to commissioning generally is not a problem, provided it
is recognized and proper cleaning and passivation of waterside surfaces are accomplished
prior to first fire.
Many HRSG tube failures are associated with the thermal stress associated with unit cycling.
Pure thermal fatigue is one of the common failure modes, but more often, the thermal stress
adds to other water- and chemistry-related problems to create the corrosion mechanisms
experienced. These problems can manifest themselves within a few years and require
extensive repairs. Common startup issues include thermal shock, circulation transients, and
process upsets caused by equipment design and arrangement.
Thermal shock. During idle periods, condensate can collect in piping as well as in reheater
and superheater headers. Purge cycles on the gas turbine (GT) prior to firing may cool the
superheater and reheater tubes further, thereby creating additional condensate. When firing
begins, condensate that is not drained from the system contacts hot metal surfacessuch as
the welds between tubes and the outlet headerand can initiate thermal fatigue cracks (see
Avoid desuperheater problems. . . , COMBINED CYCLE Journal, Fall 2004; available at
www.psimedia.info/ccjarchives.htm).
Circulation issues. HRSGs typically are designed with multiple rows of finned tubes
attached to headers at the top and bottom in each economizer and evaporator section. This
arrangement is in sharp contrast to the waterwall evaporator configuration in large power
boilers. Sudden heating during an HRSG startup results in the first row of tubes in the gas
path seeing a very different thermal profile than the last row of tubes in that bundle and
results in circulation problems such as reverse and stagnant flow in some tubes.
The first rows instantaneously become risers and the last rows in the same evaporator
section may act like downcomersthat is, until the unit is warmed up and the flow becomes

uniform. Chemistry in the tubes during these periods is variable. If solids such as iron oxide,
or dissolved non-volatile chemicals such as sodium hydroxide or sodium phosphate are
present, under-deposit corrosion can occur. Atypical flow patterns that can occur while the
GT is warming up also can result in hot spots in some of the first generating sections.
Compounding these issues is the common practice of using duct burners to generate
additional steam; in some cases, almost double the HRSGs unfired production rate. Duct
burners also can create localized high-heat-flux and circulation issues that can result in
under-deposit corrosion.
Design issues. In some HRSGs the deaerator is an integral part of the low-pressure (l-p)
steam generator. Oftentimes, the l-p drum is the only source of steam to the integral
deaerator and, therefore, is not available when needed moston unit startup. A high
concentration of dissolved oxygen in the feedwater in the feedwater during startup leads to
oxygen pitting and other under-deposit corrosion mechanisms, and accelerates corrosion
fatigue.
The low-capital-cost mentality of many owners often excludes the installation of equipment
that could improve cycling operationsuch as a separate deaerator or an auxiliary boiler to
provide steam to the integral deaerator during startup.