Dao2019 Article CreepDeformationCharacteristic
Dao2019 Article CreepDeformationCharacteristic
Dao2019 Article CreepDeformationCharacteristic
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(Manuscript Received June 23, 2019; Revised July 18, 2019; Accepted July 22, 2019)
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Abstract
In the present work, several specimens were obtained from microalloyed HP40Nb reformer tubes with the different serviced period.
The creep tests were conducted at a temperature of 950 °C and under stress levels in the range 25-55 MPa. Results indicated that the
degradation of the creep life was due to the increase of the serviced period. The microstructural degradation and creep voids were ob-
served at the grain boundary regions, attributed to the main reason leading to the premature creep failure. The creep exponent started
decreasing after the servicing and approached a constant value after 7.2 years. The creep coefficient was obtained to be a function of time
when the creep exponent was constant. Norton’s creep power law equation was used to derive an equation describing the relationship
between the diametrical expansion and serviced period of the reformer tubes. Larson-Miller curves were obtained from creep test data.
Amount of carbides from the different serviced period was also calculated.
Keywords: HP40Nb alloy; Reformer tube; Carbide; Creep test; Larson-Miller parameter
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precipitation is determined to explain the tendency of carbide Table 1. Chemical composition of microalloyed HP40Nb according to
grains to coarsen. ASTM A608 (wt.%).
Material C Ni Cr Nb Si Mn Mo Fe
2. Experimental procedures
Microal-
0.38- 24- 0.5- 0.5-
2.1 Reformer tube information and specimen preparation loyed 34-37 ≤1.5 0.50 Bal
0.45 27 1.5 1.5
HP40Nb
Reformer tubes are mainly manufactured through the cen-
trifugal casting process, and their nominal lifetime is ap- Table 2. Detailed information on the reformer tubes.
proximately 100000 h (≈11.4 years). They can operate at tem-
Tube No. #17-1 #19 #17-2 #56
peratures up to 950 °C and are designed for internal pressures
of 10-40 bars [1]. In this study, reformer tubes were obtained Installed 2014 2012.08 2008.01 2008.01
from a furnace containing 72 catalyst-filled vertical tubes ar- Replaced 2014 2013.12 2013.12 2015.03
ranged in two radiant chambers. These vertical tubes with a Serviced
length of 14 m were supported at the bottom and free to ex- period 0 (virgin) 1.75 6.0 7.2
(years)
pand at the top. The outer diameter of each tube was
146.6 mm and the internal diameter was 135.8 mm. The raw
materials were metal gas (CH4) and steam, which entered into
the top of reformer tubes from the top end at a temperature of
around 755 K and with a pressure in the range 15-17 bars.
They flowed downward over the catalyst in the individual
tubes before emerging from the bottom end at a temperature
of around 1173 K.
The material used in this study was microalloyed HP40Nb,
and its chemical composition is presented in Table 1. Virgin (a)
specimens were cut from tubes collected from the bottom part
outside the furnace. Other specimens were obtained from
tubes collected from the heated part of the furnace, and the
serviced periods of the tubes were 1.75, 6, and 7.2 years. De-
tailed information and photographs of the reformer tubes are
presented in Table 2 and Fig. 1. These specimens were taken
out and brought to the laboratory for examination and analysis.
e& = As n . (1)
(b) Specimen with serviced period of 1.75 years
For the serviced periods 0 (virgin), 1.75, 6.0, and 7.2 years,
the creep exponent was 11.19, 9.14, 6.40, and 6.28, respec-
tively, confirming that power law hardening decreased with an
increase in the serviced period. It should be noted that the
creep exponent value of the virgin specimen was considerably
higher than the values for the other specimens at 950 °C. The
creep exponent values also indicates that the secondary-
regime creep deformation in microalloyed HP40Nb is con-
trolled by the dislocation creep mechanism. According to past
studies [13-15], while dislocation creep is dominant for creep
exponent values in the range 3-12 because of the movement of
dislocations, diffusion creep and grain-boundary sliding are
dominant for the creep exponent values of 1 and 2, respec- (c) Specimen with serviced period of 6 years
tively. Fig. 5 depicts the detailed microstructure at two magni-
fications, ×100 and ×1000, for the different serviced periods
for the specimens from the tubes. The virgin microstructure of
microalloyed HP40Nb in Fig. 5(a) shows a continuous net-
work of primary carbides forming a dendritic pattern during
solidification. However, in the microstructure of the specimen
with a serviced period of 1.75 years in Fig. 5(b), a large quan-
tity of small precipitates are observed, they are more apparent
at the grain and neighborhood boundaries. The interdendritic
carbide content decreased for the serviced periods of 6 and 7.2
years (see Figs. 5(c) and (d)), and the blocky-shaped interden-
dritic carbides dispersed and formed large granular carbides.
EDS analysis of the virgin specimen, shown in Fig. 6(a), re-
(d) Specimen with serviced period of 7.2 years
vealed that the white precipitates correspond to Nb-rich car-
bides that combined with carbon atoms to form fine precipi- Fig. 2. Plot of time versus strain obtained in the creep test at 950 °C for
tates of new MC-type carbides (M: Metal with Nb or Ti) that microalloyed HP40Nb under different stresses.
4816 V. H. Dao et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 33 (10) (2019) 4813~4821
(a)
(b)
(d) Specimen with serviced period of 7.2 years
Fig. 4. Relationship of the minimum strain rate with stress and serviced
Fig. 3. Plot of time versus creep strain rate obtained in the creep test at period after the creep testing of microalloyed HP40Nb specimens: (a)
950 °C for microalloyed HP40Nb. Before; (b) after retaining n value as a constant.
V. H. Dao et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 33 (10) (2019) 4813~4821 4817
(c) Specimen with serviced period of 6.0 years (b) Serviced specimen (7.2 years)
Fig. 6. EDS analysis results for the dark and bright carbide precipitate
region.
ri 2 Pi - ro2 Po ( Pi - Po ) ri ro
2 2
From Eq. (7), the relationship between diameter extension
sq = + (3)
ro2 - ri 2 ( ro2 - ri 2 ) r 2 and serviced period (year) can be studied by considering the
equivalent stress distribution and the creep coefficient as func-
ri 2 Pi - ro2 Po ( Pi - Po ) ri ro
2 2
es ts 2 2
n where P is the LMP parameter, tr is the stress rupture time, T
é 2 Pr i i ro
ù
òe d e = òt A(t ). ê 2 2 2 ú
dt . (7) is the temperature (in kelvin), and C = 22.9 is the Larson-
o o ë (ro - ri )r û Miller constant. Comparison of the curves (shown in Fig. 7)
V. H. Dao et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 33 (10) (2019) 4813~4821 4819
4. Discussion
The creep exponent tends to be influenced by microstruc-
tural degradation, which results from the coalescence and
coarsening of primary and secondary carbides, as shown in
(c) Specimen with serviced period of 7.2 years Fig. 5. The precipitate of small carbide particles at the inter-
dendritic interface could be explained by the transformation of
Fig. 8. Images analysis on the surface of microalloyed HP40Nb for the
primary carbides into intergranular- or intragranular-type sec-
specimens with different serviced periods (magnifications of ×50).
ondary carbides. The small secondary carbide particles formed
acted as a barrier, preventing creep deformation, and the creep
for manufacturer data [2], previously reported creep life val- strength of microalloyed HP40Nb increased. Similar results
ues [8, 19], and the virgin and serviced period specimens lead have been reported previously [9, 24]. The microstructural
to the following inferences: changes appeared to reach saturation because of the coales-
Creep test results for the virgin specimen were within the cence and coarsening of carbides being dominant for these
limits of the manufacturer data. The curve for the virgin serviced periods. In addition, creep voids occurred, which can
specimen is located above that for previously reported creep be verified from material degradation resulting from high
test values for a HP40Nb modified material The superior operating temperatures [20, 25, 26]. This occurrence is a pre-
creep properties of microalloyed HP40Nb was obtained which requisite for microcracking and the propagation of macro-
allows to manufacture tubes with thinner wall or, larger di- cracks. Furthermore, high-temperature operation (above
ameter. The creep properties can be explained by the presence 950 °C) for prolonged durations accompanied by internal
of the microelement Ti in microalloyed HP40Nb; the micro- pressure concentration can lead to microstructural changes and
element enhances the creep property [1, 2, 7, 21, 22]. severe damage to structural tube components as a result of
The curves for the specimens with serviced periods of 1.75, temperature-sensitive plastic deformation and surface degra-
6, and 7.2 years are below the virgin and manufacturer creep dation processes. Consequently, the creep resistance is re-
curves. This is because of creep damage accumulated in the duced. Similar results were obtained in a previous report [2].
specimens, and it will be discussed in a later section. Also, the degree of coarsening of grain boundaries should be
4820 V. H. Dao et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 33 (10) (2019) 4813~4821
proportional to the serviced period or temperature. It is also 500060), granted financial resource from the Ministry of
consistent with previous results [23, 27, 28]. Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE), Republic of Korea. This
Fig. 9 also shows a comparison of the amount of carbides work was also supported by the KETEP granted from MOTIE
between the specimens of this study and a HP40Nb modified (No. 20141010101850). Authors deeply appreciate the com-
material of a previous study at the temperature of 900 °C [23]. pany providing the serviced reformer tubes and relevant in-
Apparently, amount of carbides in HP40Nb steel is greater formation.
than that in microalloyed HP40Nb containing titanium. This
can be explained a follows. The addition of titanium possibly Nomenclature------------------------------------------------------------------------
controls and restrains the coarsening. Moreover, titanium at-
oms remain in their positions without changing the crystalline A : Creep coefficient
volume during the transformation of carbides under high tem- C : Larson-Miller constant
peratures in the microalloyed material. In the EDS analysis, as n : Creep exponent
shown in Fig. 6, a small amount of Ti (0.52; 0.22 wt.%) was σ : Applied stress
detected on the white precipitates, which included fine pre- e& : Minimum creep strain rate
cipitation of the new MC-type carbides ((NbTi)C); the pres- P : Pressure
ence of Ti appears to have enhanced the creep properties. Po : External pressure
Similar arguments have been presented in previous studies [1, Pi : Internal pressure
2, 7, 21, 22]. In other words, the carbide content is depended r : Radii of tube
on the serviced period, which ranges from 1.75-7.2 years. The ro : External radii of tube
remaining life of tubes after the serviced period should proba- ri : Internal radii of tube
bly be evaluated after the amount of carbides of the tube is R2 : Coefficient of determination
determined. T : Temperature
tS : Serviced period
tr : Rupture time
5. Conclusions
Variations in the creep behavior at the temperature of
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steel and 316 stainless steel fuel clad tubes, Int. of Pressure Ang University. His research interests
Vessels and Piping, 85 (2008) 866-870. are microstructural analysis and applica-
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cylinder with oblique hole, Int. Journal of Engineering Re- He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at
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Materials Failure Analysis with Case Studies from the Chemi- and risk-based inspection for industrial facilities.
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S. Chaudhuri and R. Singh, Analysis of failed reformer tubes, Ang University, Korea in 2016. He is
Engineering Failure Analysis, 10 (3) (2003) 351-362. now working on Korea Company. His
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Filho and L. H. C. Bonazzi, Titanium micro addition in a cen- analysis, reliability and life assessment
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and identification of precipitates in stabilized Ni-Cr cast austen- Kee Bong Yoon received his M.S. in
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[23] C. J. Liu and Y. Chen, Variations of the microstructure and and Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of
mechanical properties of HP40Nb hydrogen reformer tube with Technology. He is currently a Professor
time at elevated temperature, Materials and Design, 32 (4) at Chung-Ang University. His research
(2011) 2507-2512. interests are high temperature fracture
[24] M. H. Shariat, A. H. Faraji, A. Ashraf Riahy and M. M. Ali- mechanics, failure analysis and risk
pour, In advances creep failure of HP modified reformer tubes based management of facilities in semi-
in an ammonia plant, Journal Corrosion Science and Engineer- conductor industry as well as the conventional power and
ing (2003). process plants. He is extending research to fracture of additive
[25] K. B. Yoon and D. G. Jeong, Oxidation failure of radiant heater manufactured materials.