Positive Material

Identification
Harsha A
An Introduction to Positive Material
Identification Analysis
 PMI (Positive Material Identification) testing is the analysis of materials to
determine the chemical composition of a metal or alloy at particular
(usually multiple) steps of alloy manufacturing or in-process alloy installation.
 Knowing the exact composition and grade of an alloy enables suppliers,
plant workers, and other responsible parties in the chain of custody of
components to match alloy specifications that are chosen for their specific
properties such as heat resistance, corrosion resistance, durability, etc.
 Having the right alloy in the right place is essential in places like petroleum
refineries and chemical plants, because the right alloy with the right
properties is often all that stands between a safe, efficient operation and
lost time and revenue.
Why PMI?

 Stainless steel grades differ by chemical composition.

 The key differences between the various grades are mainly the amount of Fe (iron), Cr
(chromium), Ni (nickel), Mo (molybdenum), and Cu (copper).
 Some grades are very different from each other and have different properties; for
example, 400 series stainless steels are magnetic while 300 series stainless steels are not.
 Other grades are more similar with very similar properties, and it is much harder to tell the
difference between them without the aid of technology. For example, 304SS has 18-20% Cr
and 8-10.5% Ni, whereas 316SS has 16-18% Cr and 10-14% Ni.
 Although these alloys are very close in composition, they respond differently to corrosive
chemicals and higher temperatures making it necessary to be certain you are using the
correct alloy for the job intended.
 A handheld XRF PMI gun can analyze, identify and display grade and composition of a
material in less than 5 seconds without creating any marks on the material or destroying
the sample in any way.
Retroactive PMI testing

 There are several things to consider in assessing whether a retroactive PMI testing program is necessary—and how to prioritize piping and components
to be tested—including but not limited to:

 The likelihood of a material mix-up during previous project and maintenance activities

 The potential consequences of a piping or component failure

 Fire potential

 Toxicity

 Proximity to other equipment

 Proximity to human beings

 Temperature

 Pressure

 Size of potential release if failure were to occur

 Reason for alloy specification

 Previous experience of knowledge of information pertaining to inadvertent material substitutions or mix-ups at the site in question.

 Carbon steel substitutions in low alloy steel systems

 Gasket Materials

 Sulfidation susceptibility

 Maintenance Practices
How XRF works?

 XRF is x-ray fluorescence. Fluorescence means that some energy is produced, is

incident upon an object, and then another lower energy is emitted from that
object.
 In the case of x-ray fluorescence, the original energy is produced in the x-ray
tube of an XRF instrument. This original energy is an x-ray beam with enough
energy to cause electrons to be knocked out of their orbits in the atoms in your
stainless steel analysis sample; this is called the primary x-ray beam.
 The stainless steel sample is the object upon which the primary x-ray beam is
incident, and the object then emits another energy that is lower than the
energy of the primary x-ray beam.
 The energy emitted from the sample is a result of an electron losing energy
when it moves from a higher orbit to a lower orbit in the atoms in your sample.
 The electrons change orbits because the energy of the primary x-ray beam is
strong enough to knock electrons out of the innermost orbital shells of the atoms
in your sample.
How XRF works?

 When electrons are knocked out of the orbits, this creates a vacancy where the electron
used to be. Since these vacancies make the atom unstable, they must immediately be
filled with other electrons.
 The atom can fill these vacancies using electrons from higher orbits, so an electron from an
orbital shell further out from the nucleus can move down to fill a vacancy in an orbital shell
closer to the nucleus. When this happens, the electron loses some energy; this energy is the
fluorescent energy and it is detected by the detector in the XRF instrument.
 Since each element has a unique set of fluorescent energies, the instrument can
determine what elements are present in the sample, as well as how much.
 The instrument now knows the elemental composition of your stainless steel sample, and it
can reference this composition against an on-board library of known alloy grade
compositions and tell you what grade of stainless steel you have.
 For example, if the result shows 17% Cr, 12% Ni, and 2% Mo, this is 316 SS, and the XRF alloy
tested will identify it as such.
XRF pics