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OBJECTIVES
Avoidance of Premature Weld
• To generate and assess cross-weld creep rupture Failure by ‘Type IV’ cracking
data on welded joints failing by the Type IV Heat-
Affected Zone (HAZ) cracking mechanism in PROJECT SUMMARY 304
steels for high temperature application in
advanced PF plant. CLEANER FOSSIL FUELS PROGRAMME
– CLEANER COAL R&D PROGRAMME
• To assess the long term risks of welded plant
component failure.
• To optimise steel selection for thick section high
alloy ferritic steel components in advanced coal-
fired power plant.
• To provide a sound basis for determining
appropriate limiting plant design temperature and
stress conditions.
SUMMARY
oxidation resistance and does not suffer poor properties due to its adverse
undue long term degradation in service. aluminium / nitrogen ratio was also
However, the relatively short term creep investigated. Separate test series were
tests carried out on welded joints were less carried out after welding onto this material in
encouraging. Extrapolation of the data the as-manufactured, renormalised and
suggested that long term weld strength tempered (strengthened), and preaged
might, because of Type IV cracking, fall to as (weakened) conditions.
little as 50% of the parent material rupture
strength. This would put all welds - not just A novel test matrix was devised to
those under substantial system loading - at investigate variations in both stress and
risk of early failure. However, the severe temperature with four tests per weldment.
extrapolation was subject to uncertainty. This made it possible to test as many as ten
Also, little comparative data assessment had weldments and obtain sufficient data to rank
been carried out, and it was not clear to their relative performance over a range of
what extent alternative high alloy steels test conditions. The programme was
would be at comparable risk. supplemented by additional testing with a
special waisted specimen geometry,
comprehensive metadata compilation, weld
thermal simulation, a creep data
assessment project on E911 data supplied
by the European Creep Collaborative
Committee (ECCC), and optical and electron
metallographic investigation.
slightly less pessimistic than the PIPPE stronger HAZs. However, the correlation
prediction, it confirms the general trends is far from perfect. Hence, future alloy
and the scale of the problem. The development should address the
assessment also provided reference life optimisation of cross-weld, as well as
predictions for mean E911 weld parent, material creep properties.
performance as a function of test The main reason why parent and HAZ
conditions. These provided a baseline for properties are not always perfectly
comparison of the alternative welded correlated was identified as the effect of
materials investigated in FOURCRACK. variations in prior heat treatment. These can
substantially affect parent material
The test results on the stronger P92 and properties, but may have only a minor
P122 parent materials included many short influence on the properties of a subsequent
term failures in the weld metal. Hence, weld HAZ. Hence, thick section
there is some concern that for these components, with relatively poor parent
stronger alloys, the creep properties of creep properties associated with long heat
matching weld metals cannot keep pace treatment times, may tend to have relatively
with those of the parent materials. However, good HAZ properties. The work on Grade 91
there were clear trends toward HAZ as material provided the most striking
opposed to weld metal failure as the test demonstration of the complex influence of
temperature, and/or test stress, was heat treatment. Renormalising and
reduced to a lower value, closer to the tempering, while greatly strengthening the
conditions which would apply to real weak parent material employed, actually had
components. As both temperature and a marginally adverse effect on the
stress acceleration promote weld metal performance of the subsequently
failure, it can be difficult to find test manufactured weldment.
conditions which produce Type IV failure
in a short term test. However, it can be In most cases, it was apparent that changes
concluded that it is HAZ Type IV failure in alloy chemistry which strengthen the
which remains the greater long term risk parent material also tend to strengthen the
under advanced plant operating conditions. HAZ. Thus, P92 and P122 generally
outperformed E911 both as parent materials
Those weldments which did fail in the HAZ and as weldments, although the weaker
showed significant differences in relative casts of these Japanese materials when
creep rupture strength, and these proved tested in FOURCRACK were not greatly
to be largely independent of the test superior to the mean E911 weld data.
conditions. The HAZ failure data could Conversely, the older Grade 91 (P91) material
therefore be used to determine a broadly is generally weaker than E911, both in tests
consistent ranking order of the relative creep on the parent material and on the weldment.
rupture strengths of the different weldments. However, the special high aluminium weak
Hence, in those cases where weld metal Grade 91 material tested, which substantially
failure did not intervene, short term underperforms mean P91 parent creep data,
accelerated test HAZ failure data appeared showed a lesser shortfall in its cross-weld
to be a reasonable guide to relative creep performance. It could therefore be that high
rupture strength in the longer term. aluminium, which is known to combine with
nitrogen and suppress the formation of key
An overall assessment of the data showed creep strengthening carbonitride
a broad correlation between parent material precipitates, has a more substantially
and cross-weld HAZ creep performance. harmful effect on parent steel properties
Stronger parent materials tend to have than on those of the weld HAZ.
PS_225.qxp 15/06/2005 10:31 Page 1
In summary, the results confirmed the broad the effect of prior heat treatment on
conclusions of PIPPE, and showed that they parent material strength.
apply generally to Japanese and US steels
• Typically, weldment creep rupture
as well as to European steel E911. The
strength appears to fall toward a floor
cross-weld creep strength falls to a level at
value of the order of 60% of the parent
which weld HAZ cracking must generally be
strength in the longer term.
expected to occur far in advance of parent
material life exhaustion. Conservative plant • However, different material casts show
design may therefore be essential to avoid significant differences in their weldment/
expensive long term maintenance and repair parent material creep strength ratios.
costs. Hence, future alloy development should
focus on optimisation of cross-weld, as
well as parent, material creep properties.
• Conservative design of advanced
supercritical PF plant may be essential to
avoid the risks of costly long term
maintenance and weld repair problems,
and to gain the confidence of new plant
buyers and operators.
CONTRACTOR
E.ON UK plc
Power Technology
Ratcliffe-on-Soar
Nottingham
Nottinghamshire
NG11 0EE
Tel: +44(0)115 9362497
Fax: +44(0)115 9362416
Email: david.allen@eon-
uk.com
COLLABORATORS