OPTICAL AND ELECTRON MICROSCOPY IN INVESTIGATION OF IMPELLER

BLADE FAILURE

Mohd Harun, Hafizal Yazid, Muhamad B. Jalil, Zaiton Selamat and Mohd Shariff Sattar
Malaysian Institute for Nuclear Technology Research,
43000 Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan.

Abstract

An investigation has been done to an accident resulting from the breakdown of an impeller blade. Visual
stereoscopic, optical and scanning electron microscopy examinations have been carried out to find the
causes of the blade defects. The results show that failure of the blade was due to the nucleation of the crack
from the material-casting defect after a prolonged period of surface crack propagation. The material has a
lower strength due to an insufficient surface hardening. There is a need for improvements in the production
technique of the blade in order that the porosities are avoided during the casting process. Before
installation of the blades, the presence of casting defects; such as porosity in the blade shall be checked by
using x-ray radiography.

Keywords: Impeller failures; Optical microscopy; Electron microscopy; Defects; Porosity

INTRODUCTION

In a waste recycle energy industry, some industrial and domestic wastes were processed to produce a
material for fuel application. The solid industrial and domestic wastes usually contain some hard materials
such as stone, glass, metals, plastic and organic materials. The shredder blades are attached to a rod that
was rotated to crush the domestic wastes to soft materials for burning purpose. The blade failed within a
relatively long period after the production start of plant. In previous analysis, the causes of the impeller
accidents were due to casting defect during manufacture [1,2], increasing of rotation speed [3] and rust
created by friction [4]. This paper gives a summary report of an investigation of the failure of the blade.
The visual examination, stereomicroscopic, optical and scanning electron microscopies are needed to find
the exact causes of the blade breakdown.

METHODS

Five methods of investigation were employed in this works, namely visual examination, spark emission
spectrometry (for chemical composition), optical and scanning electron miscrocopes (for microstructural
examination) and hardness measurement. The sample was etched by using a solution of 2 % Nital for 2-5
minutes.

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Visual Examination

(a) (b)

Fig. 1.Photograph of the shredder blades (a) an unbroken blade and five broken blades, (b) Broken blade,
No.4.

The blades are numbered as No.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Unbroken blade is shown in the Figure 1 as marked
with No. 1. It was observed that all blades have fractured at various locations. In this work, an investigation
has been carried out on the blades of No. 4.

Macro Examination.

Fig. 2 shows a rough and brittle fracture surface where the fracture initiated at end of the blade. Close view
of macrostructure at the initiation of the fracture is shown in Figs. 3a. The material defects (pores, cavity or
large holes) were clearly observed in Fig.3b.

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 Fracture
origin

Figure 2

Fig. 3. (a) A close view of macrostructure at fracture origin and (b) Large hole is observed close to the edge
of fracture surface.

Metallography

Some porosities were clearly observed in the as-polished sample as shown in Fig. 4a. The etched sample
shows that the porosities was presented in intergranular manners (Fig. 4b). Microstructure of the blade
consists of ferrite grains and pearlite (Fig.4c). Cementites in the form of lamellar were clearly observed in
the ferrite matrix. The small porosities were distributed in the matrix as shown in Fig. 4d.

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 Porosity

(a) (b)

Porosity

(d)
©

Fig. 4. Microstructure of the blade (a) as-polished blade with large porosity, (b) Etched blade shows some
intergranular porosities, (c) Cementite lamellars in the ferrite matrix and (d) small porosities were
distributed in the matrix

Scanning Electron microscopy and Microanalysis

Fig. 5 shows the morphology of fracture surface through the use of scanning electron microscope (SEM) to
find the cause of initial crack. The fracture initiated at the hole which containing some elongated dendrite
structures (Fig. 5b) and propagated through the fatigue mechanism. The fatigue striation is shown in Fig.
5©. EDX analysis of part of the fracture surface shows that no corrosive oxide. The EDX analysis shows
the peaks of Fe, Cr, Mn and C elements which are the major element content of the blade material.

Initial flaw

Striation
Dendrite

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Fig.5(a) Crack origin Fig.5(b) dendrite in the hole

Fig. 5(c) Fatigue striation Fig. 5(d) EDX analysis

Chemical Composition

Table 1 shows the chemical composition of the blade. It was determined by using Spark Emission
Spectrometer. The material of the blade was not compliance with SAE 8620 standard.

Table 1
Chemical analysis of failed shredder blade.

Elements SAE 8620 standard Blade material

(wt.%) (wt.%)
C 0.20 0.667
Cr 0.50 1.141
Ni 0.50 0.081
Mo 0.20 0.132
Mn - 1.382
Si - 0.557
S - 0.031
P - 0.080

Hardness Measurement

Rockwell Hardness measurements have been done on the cross-section of the blade. According to the
hardness measured, the average hardness was between 18 to 22 HRC. According to this hardness value, the
material has low tensile strength and easily to break.

Observation for porosity has been done on the polished surface. Some porosities of casting defect were
found in the material blade through the metallography test. It is assumed that the broken happened due to
fatigue mechanism which was initiated at the casting defect. The overstressing from weakness of blade
strength accelerated the catastrophic failure of the blade. It was a brittle fracture, because no plastic
deformation observed on the blade. It confirms that the defect occurred when the blade was produced.
There is a need for improvements in the production technique of the blade in order that the porosities are
avoided during the casting process. Design of riser and gate shall be modified, and at he same time some
consideration also must be given on the melting and pouring temperature during casting of the blade
material.

The material used to produce the blade containing a high carbon and low nickel contents; where it has
0.667% C and 0.081 Ni, respectively. The presence of high carbon caused material was brittle. The

5
hardness measured was very low, it means that the material was insufficient surface hardening, not suitable
to be used as high impact blade purpose.

CONCLUSIONS

From the investigation and analysis on the breakage of the blade, the conclusion can be summarized as
follows;

 The initial crack in the blade was nucleated by the material-casting defect. A fatigue crack
progressed into a critical crack.
 The material was not suitable to be used as blade due to high carbon content and low Ni and Mo
contents.
 The material was given an insufficient surface hardening.
 Material shall be hardened to 50-60 HRC
 There is a need for improvements in the production technique of the blade in order that the
porosities are avoided during the casting process.
 Before installation of the blades, the presence of casting defects; such as porosity in the blade shall
be checked by using x-ray radiography.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank Dr. Abdul Nassir Ibrahim, Head of Industrial Division, and Dr. Azali
Muhamad, Manager of Material Technology Group of Malaysian Institute for Nuclear Technology (MINT),
for useful discussion and supporting this work. The authors are also thankful to MINT’s customer services
unit for financing this project.

REFERENCES

[1] van Bennekom A., Berndt & F. Rassool, M.N. (2001). Pump impeller failures- a compendium of case
studies. Enginnering Failure Analysis, 8(2), 145-156.
[2] Colangelo, V.J. & Heiser, F.A. (1974). Analysis of Metallurgical Failures. New York (Wiley)
[3] Aiming, F., Jinming, L. & Ziyun, T. (1995). Failure analysis of the impeller of a slurry pump subjected
to corrosive wear. Wear, 181-183(2), 876-882.
[4] Prakash, O. & Pandey, R.K. (1996). Failure analysis of the impeller of a feed pump. Engineering
Failure Analysis, 3(1), 45-52.