Oxide thickness measurements: a suitable tool for remaining life evaluation in power plants Online publication date: Fri, 16-Jan-2015
by Bruno R. Cardoso; Franco W. Comeli; Roberta Martins De Santana; Heloisa C. Furtado; Luiz Henrique De Almeida
International Journal of Microstructure and Materials Properties (IJMMP), Vol. 9, No. 3/4/5, 2014
Abstract: Boiler pipe failures are the most common cause of forced shutdown of power generation units. The oxide layer formed in the inner wall of those pipes is the main cause of overheating failures. From the measured value of the inner oxide layer, it is possible to estimate the remaining life of the component through correlation with parameters already established by the scientific community. The present paper compares the internal oxide layer thickness measurements of pipes performed by ultrasonic (non-destructive technique) and by metallography (destructive technique), in different ranges of thickness layers and an analysis of the effects of surface finishing in the reliability of the ultrasonic results. Finally, the paper analyses the remaining life calculation based on the measurement of the oxide layer thickness. The results obtained from the calculation were corroborated with a microstructural characterisation of the samples.
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