Failure Case Study – Heater Tubes

Material- High Ni Cr Alloy Steel

Composition – Cr=23-26% Ni=19-22% C=0.25% Si=1.5-3%

Condition- Temperature – 900 to 1000 Celsius in presence of Combustion gases

Cause of failure – High-Temperature Oxidation

Failure due to Overheating due to improper operating temperature of the tube. At High
Temperatures Material degradation due to Thermal Aging and Erosion due to combustion gases
thinning of Tube Metal and Crack Initiation gradually forming primary and secondary cracks. Failure
analysis with secondary cracks
At locally thinned area and local oxidation pits thick oxide scale formed and due to the
thermal coefficient difference of Oxide and Metal cracks are initiated.

Chemical Analysis of Failure-

Cr content under primary crack decreased
Ni content did not change
Fe content decreased considerably
Why not Mechanical Failure?
The crack tip was not Sharp but like a blunt notch and Matching Crack surfaces are separated from
each other thus crack was not initiated from mechanical loading.

Why not Erosion?

Thinning did not happen gradually with distance from burner thus leaving the only possibility of
repeated oxidation.

Prevention- Burner Modifications, Proper temperature control, and Modifying Combustion system
will reduce the possibility of Failure

References-
1.Oxidation failure of radiant heater tubes by K.B. Yoona.* D.G. Jeong
2. Metallurgy of Failure Analysis A.K. Das