A REPORT ON BOILER TUBE COATINGS

BY

Name Rahul Deshmukh Sarang Shamshery Ashish Chauhan

ID no. 2009A4PS347P 2009A4PS290G 2009ABPS528P

At NTPC Badarpur A Practice School-I Station of BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE, PILANI 2011

A REPORT ON BOILER TUBE COATINGS BY ID no. 2009A4PS347P 2009A4PS290G 2009ABPS528P

NAME Rahul Deshmukh Sarang Shamshery Ashish Chauhan

Discipline MECHANICAL MECHANICAL MANUFACTURING

Prepared in partial fulfillment of the Practice School-I AT NTPC Badarpur A Practice School-I Station of BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE, PILANI 2011

BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE PILANI(RAJASTHAN) Practice School Division

Station: NTPC Badarpur Duration: 23-05-11 to 15-07-11 Date of Start: 23-05-11 Date of Submission: 14-06-11 Title of the Project: BOILER TUBE COATINGS NAME Rahul Deshmukh Sarang Shamshery Ashish Chauhan ID no. 2009A4PS347P 2009A4PS290G 2009ABPS528P Discipline MECHANICAL MECHANICAL MANUFACTURING

Name of and designation of the expert: Mr. Yogesh Bansal (Suptd. Boiler Mtc.) Name of the PS faculty: Mr. Vishal Gupta

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank Mr. Yogesh Kumar Bansal (Suptd. NTPC) for his essential inputs and guidance throughout the project. We also wish to express my gratitude to the officials and other staff members of NATIONAL THERMAL POWER CORPORATION, DELHI (BADARPUR) who rendered their help during the period of my project work. We sincerely thank my PS I Faculty Mr. Vishal Gupta for his constant motivation. We are very grateful to our student co-instructor Anubhav Kumar for his support. Last but not least we wish to avail myself of this opportunity, express a sense of gratitude and love to my friends and my beloved parents for their manual support, strength, and help and for everything.

INDEX 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. ABSTRACT INTRODUCION ABOUT NTPC ABOUT BTPS BASIC STEPS OF ELECTRICITY GENERATION i. COAL TO STEAM ii. STEAM TO MECHANICAL POWER iii. MECHANICAL POWER TO ELECTRIC POWER 6. BASIC POWER PLANT CYCLE 7. BOILER AND ITS DESCIPTION 8. AUXILIARIES OF THE BOILER i. FURNACE ii. BOILER DRUM iii. WATERWALLS iv. REHEATER v. SUPERHEATER vi. ECONOMISER vii. AIR PREHEATER 9. PULVERIZER i. BALL MILL ii. BOWL MILL iii. ADVANTAGES OF PULVERIZED COAL 10. NEED FOR COATING 11. BOILER TUBE FAILURE MECHANISMS 12. METHODS OF WEAR PROTECTION i. TUBE SHIELDS ii. SPRAY COATINGS iii. WELD OVERLAYS IV. INFILTRATION BRAZED TUNGSTEN CARBIDE CLADDING 13.COMPARISION 14. LIST OF KNOWN VENDORS FOR WEAR RESISTANT COATING 15.CONCLUSION

ABSTRACT
The electric power generation industry is experiencing the most complex convergence of market pressures in history. Environmental regulations are more rigorous than ever, forcing producers to make substantial capital investments in emissions conformance. At the same time, deregulation, excess capacity, and reduced market demand are driving diminishing maintenance budgets. The threat of nonconformance penalties weighs heavily against the pressure to increase profits, and the decisions between capital expenditures, potential fines, and routine equipment maintenance become a precarious balancing act. Plant operators employ an array of methods for managing effluents and operating efficiency, including the installation of low NOx burners, overfired air systems, and complex soot-blowing systems. These techniques, while contributing to the effective management of undesirable pollutants, significantly increase equipment wear rates, especially in waterwalls and boiler tubing. Faced with deregulation, increasing retail competition and pressures to keep boilers online, many coal-fired power generating stations have adopted business strategies centered on increasing unit availability, reliability and increasing the operational life of critical equipment. However, boiler tube failures continue to be the number one cause of forced outages in fossil plants today. These costly forced outages are responsible for an estimated six percent overall loss of unit availability. One of the major causes for premature tube failure is excessive fireside boiler tube erosion caused by the impact, cutting action and abrasive wear of fly ash entrained flue gases undercutting the area they strike. Power generation utilities and holding company goals are to extend times between major planned boiler outages. Systems types and configurations, the age of the plant, their specific plant operating demands and both preventative and general maintenance philosophies can dictate the accomplishment of these goals.

INTRODUCTION

The main objective of this report is to analyze the wear and tear of boiler tubes and discuss techniques in order to prevent them. This project analyses the reasons of wear and tear of tubes in the boiler of a thermal power plant and the extent of damage caused by them. It discusses various technologies and techniques available in the market like: Tube Shields Spray Coatings Weld Overlays Infiltration Brazed Tungsten Carbide Cladding

Apart from the above, the project also lists the details of venders that make the techniques available in the market. This project is concerned to analyze the method used by vendors to provide coatings for boiler, its cost and advantages & also the life of the coating. Analyzing this will help us in choosing the most suited vendor

ABOUT NTPC NTPC Limited is the largest thermal power generating company of India, Public Sector Company. It was incorporated in the year 1975 to accelerate power development in the country as a wholly owned company of the Government of India. At present, Government of India holds 89.5% of the total equity shares of the company and the balance 10.5% is held by FIIs, Domestic Banks, Public and others. Within a span of 31 years, NTPC has emerged as a truly national power company, with power generating facilities in all the major regions of the country.

NTPC's core business is engineering, construction and operation of power generating plants and providing consultancy to power utilities in India and abroad. The total installed capacity of the company is 31134 MW (including JVs) with 15 coal based and 7 gas based stations, located across the country. In addition under JVs, 3 stations are coal based & another station uses naphtha/LNG as fuel. By 2017, the power generation portfolio is expected to have a diversified fuel mix with coal based capacity of around 53000 MW, 10000 MW through gas, 9000 MW through Hydro generation, about 2000 MW from nuclear sources and around 1000 MW from Renewable Energy Sources (RES). NTPC has adopted a multi-pronged growth strategy which includes capacity addition through green field projects, expansion of existing stations, joint ventures, subsidiaries and takeover of stations.

NTPC has been operating its plants at high efficiency levels. Although the company has 18.79% of the total national capacity it contributes 28.60% of total power generation due to its focus on high efficiency. NTPCs share at 31 Mar 2001 of the total installed capacity of the country was 24.51% and it generated 29.68% of the power of the country in 2008-09. Every fourth home in India is lit by NTPC. 170.88BU of electricity was produced by its stations in the financial year 2005-2006. The Net Profit after Tax on March 31, 2006 was INR 58,202 million. Net Profit after Tax for the quarter ended June 30, 2006 was INR 15528 million, which is 18.65% more than for the same quarter in the previous financial year. 2005).

NTPC has set new benchmarks for the power industry both in the area of power plant construction and operations. Its providing power at the cheapest average tariff in the country. NTPC is committed to the environment, generating power at minimal environmental cost and preserving the ecology in the vicinity of the plants. NTPC has undertaken massive a forestation in the vicinity of its plants. Plantations have increased forest area and reduced barren land. The massive a forestation by NTPC in and around its Ramagundam Power station (2600 MW) have contributed reducing the temperature in the areas by about 3c. NTPC has also taken proactive steps for ash utilization. In 1991, it setup Ash Utilization Division

A graphical overview:

Technological Initiatives 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Introduction of steam generators (boilers) of the size of 800 MW. Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) Technology. Launch of Energy Technology Centre -A new initiative for development of technologies with focus on fundamental R&D. The company sets aside up to 0.5% of the profits for R&D. Roadmap developed for adopting Clean Development. Mechanism to help get / earn Certified Emission Reduction.

Environment Management 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. All stations of NTPC are ISO 14001 certified. Various groups to care of environmental issues. The Environment Management Group. Ash Utilization Division. Afforestation Group. Centre for Power Efficiency & Environment Protection. Group on Clean Development Mechanism. NTPC is the second largest owner of trees in the country after the Forest department.

ABOUT BTPS
Badarpur thermal power station started working in 1973 with a single 95 mw unit. There were 2 more units (95 MW each) installed in next 2 consecutive years. Now it has total five units with total capacity of 720 MW. Ownership of BTPS was transferred to NTPC with effect from 01.06.2006 through GOIs Gazette Notification .Given below are the details of unit with the year they are installed.

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BASIC STEPS OF ELECTRICITY GENERATION

The basic steps in the generation of electricity from coal involves following steps: 1. 2. 3. Coal to steam Steam to mechanical power Mechanical power to electrical power

The basic steps in the generation of coal to electricity are shown below:

COAL TO STEAM
Coal from the coal wagons is unloaded in the coal handling plant. This Coal is transported up to the raw coal bunkers with the help of belt conveyors. Coal is transported to Bowl mills by Coal Feeders. The coal is pulverized in the Bowl Mill, where it is ground to powder form. The mill consists of a round metallic table on which coal particles fall. This table is rotated with the help of a motor. There are three large steel rollers, which are spaced 120 apart. When there is no coal, these rollers do not rotate but when the coal is fed to the table it packs up between roller and the table and ths forces the rollers to rotate. Coal is crushed by the crushing action between the rollers and the rotating table. This crushed coal is taken away to the furnace through coal pipes with the help of hot and cold air mixture from P.A. Fan. P.A. Fan takes atmospheric air, a part of which is sent to Air-Preheaters for heating while a part goes directly to the mill for temperature control. Atmospheric air from F.D. Fan is heated in the air heaters and sent to the furnace as combustion air. Water from the boiler feed pump passes through economizer and reaches the boiler drum. Water from the drum passes through down comers and goes to the bottom ring header. 11

Water from the bottom ring header is divided to all the four sides of the furnace. Due to heat and density difference, the water rises up in the water wall tubes. Water is partly converted to steam as it rises up in the furnace. This steam and water mixture is again taken to thee boiler drum where the steam is separated from water.

1. Cooling tower 2. Cooling water pump 3. transmission line (3-phase) 4. Step-up transformer (3-phase) 5. Electrical generator (3-phase) 6. Low pressure steam turbine 7. Condensate pump 8. Surface condenser 9. Intermediate pressure steam turbine

10. Steam Control valve 11. High pressure steam turbine 12. Deaerator 13. Feedwater heater 14. Coal conveyor 15. Coal hopper 16. Coal pulverizer 17. Boiler steam drum 18. Bottom ash hopper

19. Superheater 20. Forced draught (draft) fan 21. Reheater 22. Combustion air intake 23. Economiser 24. Air preheater 25. Precipitator 26. Induced draught (draft) fan 27. Flue gas stack

Water follows the same path while the steam is sent to superheaters for superheating. The superheaters are located inside the furnace and the steam is superheated (540C) and finally it goes to the turbine. Flue gases from the furnace are extracted by induced draft fan, which maintains balance draft in the furnace (-5 to 10 mm of wcl) with forced draft fan. These flue gases emit their heat energy to various super heaters in the pent house and finally pass through airpreheaters and goes to electrostatic precipitators where the ash particles are extracted. Electrostatic Precipitator consists of metal plates, which are electrically charged. Ash particles are attracted on to these plates, so that they do not pass through the chimney to 12

pollute the atmosphere. Regular mechanical hammer blows cause the accumulation of ash to fall to the bottom of the precipitator where they are collected in a hopper for disposal.

STEAM TO MECHANICAL POWER

From the boiler, a steam pipe conveys steam to the turbine through a stop valve (which can be used to shut-off the steam in case of emergency) and through control valves that automatically regulate the supply of steam to the turbine. Stop valve and control valves are located in a steam chest and a governor, driven from the main turbine shaft, operates the control valves to regulate the amount of steam used. (This depends upon the speed of the turbine and the amount of electricity required from the generator). Steam from the control valves enters the high pressure cylinder of the turbine, where it passes through a ring of stationary blades fixed to the cylinder wall. These act as nozzles and direct the steam into a second ring of moving blades mounted on a disc secured to the turbine shaft. The second ring turns the shafts as a result of the force of steam. The stationary and moving blades together constitute a stage of turbine and in practice many stages are necessary, so that the cylinder contains a number of rings of stationary blades with rings of moving blades arranged between them. The steam passes through each stage in turn until it reaches the end of the high-pressure cylinder and in its passage some of its heat energy is changed into mechanical energy. The steam leaving the high pressure cylinder goes back to the boiler for reheating and returns by a further pipe to the intermediate pressure cylinder. Here it passes through another series of stationary and moving blades. Finally, the steam is taken to the low-pressure cylinders, each of which enters at the centre flowing outwards in opposite directions through the rows of turbine blades through an arrangement called the double flow- to the extremities of the cylinder. As the steam gives up its heat energy to drive the turbine, its temperature and pressure fall and it expands. Because of this expansion the blades are much larger and longer towards the low pressure ends of the turbine.

MECHANICAL POWER TO ELECTRICAL POWER

As the blades of turbine rotate, the shaft of the generator, which is coupled to tha of the turbine, also rotates. It results in rotation of the coil of the generator, which causes induced electricity to be produced. 13

BASIC POWER PLANT CYCLE

A simplified diagram of a thermal power plant The thermal (steam) power plant uses a dual (vapour+ liquid) phase cycle. It is a close cycle to enable the working fluid (water) to be used again and again. The cycle used is Rankine Cycle modified to include superheating of steam, regenerative feed water heating and reheating of steam.

On large turbines, it becomes economical to increase the cycle efficiency by using reheat, which is a way of partially overcoming temperature limitations. By returning partially expanded steam, to a reheat, the average temperature at which the heat is added, is increased and, by expanding this reheated steam to the remaining stages of the turbine, the exhaust wetness is considerably less than it would otherwise be conversely, if the maximum tolerable wetness is allowed, the initial pressure of the steam can be appreciably increased. Bleed Steam Extraction: For regenerative system, nos. of non-regulated extractions is taken from HP, IP turbine. 14

Regenerative heating of the boiler feed water is widely used in modern power plants; the effect being to increase the average temperature at which heat is added to the cycle, thus improving the cycle efficiency.

Factors Affecting Thermal Cycle Efficiency

Thermal cycle efficiency is affected by following: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Initial Steam Pressure. Initial Steam Temperature. Whether reheat is used or not, and if used reheat pressure and temperature. Condenser pressure. Regenerative feed water heating.

15

BOILER AND ITS DESCRIPTION

The boiler is a rectangular furnace about 50 ft (15 m) on a side and 130 ft (40 m) tall. Its walls are made of a web of high pressure steel tubes about 2.3 inches (60 mm) in diameter. Pulverized coal is air-blown into the furnace from fuel nozzles at the four corners and it rapidly burns, forming a large fireball at the centre. The thermal radiation of the fireball heats the water that circulates through the boiler tubes near the boiler perimeter. The water circulation rate in the boiler is three to four times the throughput and is typically driven by pumps. As the water in the boiler circulates it absorbs heat and changes into steam at 700 F (370 C) and 3,200 psi (22.1MPa). It is separated from the water inside a drum at the top of the furnace.

Boiler Side of the Badarpur Thermal Power Station, New Delhi

16

The saturated steam is introduced into superheat pendant tubes that hang in the hottest part of the combustion gases as they exit the furnace. Here the steam is superheated to 1,000 F (540 C) to prepare it for the turbine. The steam generating boiler has to produce steam at the high purity, pressure and temperature required for the steam turbine that drives the electrical generator. The generator includes the economizer, the steam drum, the chemical dosing equipment, and the furnace with its steam generating tubes and the superheater coils. Necessary safety valves are located at suitable points to avoid excessive boiler pressure. The air and flue gas path equipment include: forced draft (FD) fan, air preheater (APH), boiler furnace, induced draft (ID) fan, fly ash collectors (electrostatic precipitator or baghouse) and the flue gas stack. For units over about 210 MW capacity, redundancy of key components is provided by installing duplicates of the FD fan, APH, fly ash collectors and ID fan with isolating dampers. On some units of about 60 MW, two boilers per unit may instead be provided.

Schematic diagram of a coal-fired power plant steam generator

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AUXILIARIES OF THE BOILER

FURNACE
Furnace is primary part of boiler where the chemical energy of the fuel is converted to thermal energy by combustion. Furnace is designed for efficient and complete combustion. Major factors that assist for efficient combustion are amount of fuel inside the furnace and turbulence, which causes rapid mixing between fuel and air. In modern boilers, water furnaces are used.

BOILER DRUM
Drum is of fusion-welded design with welded hemispherical dished ends. It is provided with stubs for welding all the connecting tubes, i.e. downcomers, risers, pipes, saturated steam outlet. The function of steam drum internals is to separate the water from the steam generated in the furnace walls and to reduce the dissolved solid contents of the steam below the prescribed limit of 1 ppm and also take care of the sudden change of steam demand for boiler. The secondary stage of two opposite banks of closely spaced thin corrugated sheets, which direct the steam and force the remaining entertained water against the corrugated plates. Since the velocity is relatively low this water does not get picked up again but runs down the plates and off the second stage of the two steam outlets. From the secondary separators the steam flows upwards to the series of screen dryers, extending in layers across the length of the drum. These screens perform the final stage of the separation. Once water inside the boiler or steam generator, the process of adding the latent heat of vaporization or enthalpy is underway. The boiler transfers energy to the water by the chemical reaction of burning some type of fuel. The water enters the boiler through a section in the convection pass called the economizer. From the economizer it passes to the steam drum. Once the water enters the steam drum it goes down the down comers to the lower inlet water wall headers. From the inlet headers the water rises through the water walls and is eventually turned into 18

steam due to the heat being generated by the burners located on the front and rear water walls (typically). As the water is turned into steam/vapour in the water walls, the steam/vapour once again enters the steam drum.

External View of an Industrial Boiler at BTPS, New Delhi The steam/vapour is passed through a series of steam and water separators and then dryers inside the steam drum. The steam separators and dryers remove the water droplets from the steam and the cycle through the water walls is repeated. This process is known as natural circulation. The boiler furnace auxiliary equipment includes coal feed nozzles and igniter guns, soot blowers, water lancing and observation ports (in the furnace walls) for observation of the furnace interior. Furnace explosions due to any accumulation of combustible gases after a tripout are avoided by flushing out such gases from the combustion zone before igniting the coal. The steam drum (as well as the superheater coils and headers) have air vents and drains needed for initial start-up. The steam drum has an internal device that removes moisture from the wet steam entering the drum from the steam generating tubes. The dry steam then flows into the superheater coils. Geothermal plants need no boiler since they use naturally occurring steam sources. Heat exchangers may be used where the geothermal steam is very corrosive or contains excessive suspended solids. Nuclear plants also boil water to raise steam, either directly passing the working steam through the reactor or else using an intermediate heat exchanger.

19

WATER WALLS
Water flows to the water walls from the boiler drum by natural circulation. The front and the two side water walls constitute the main evaporation surface, absorbing the bulk of radiant heat of the fuel burnt in the chamber. The front and rear walls are bent at the lower ends to form a water-cooled slag hopper. The upper part of the chamber is narrowed to achieve perfect mixing of combustion gases. The water wall tubes are connected to headers at the top and bottom. The rear water wall tubes at the top are grounded in four rows at a wider pitch forming g the grid tubes.

REHEATER
Reheater is used to raise the temperature of steam from which a part of energy has been extracted in highpressure turbine. This is another method of increasing the cycle efficiency. Reheating requires additional equipment i.e. heating surface connecting boiler and turbine pipe safety equipment like safety valve, non return valves, isolating valves, high pressure feed pump, etc: Reheater is composed of two sections namely the front and the rear pendant section, which is located above the furnace arc between water-cooled, screen wall tubes and rear wall tubes.

Tubes of a reheater

SUPERHEATER
Whatever type of boiler is used, steam will leave the water at its surface and pass into the steam space. Steam formed above the water surface in a shell boiler is always saturated 20

and become superheated in the boiler shell, as it is constantly. If superheated steam is required, the saturated steam must pass through a superheater. This is simply a heat exchanger where additional heat is added to the steam. In water-tube boilers, the superheater may be an additional pendant suspended in the furnace area where the hot gases will provide the degree of superheat required. In other cases, for example in CHP schemes where the gas turbine exhaust gases are relatively cool, a separately fired superheater may be needed to provide the additional heat.

ECONOMIZER
The function of an economizer in a steam-generating unit is to absorb heat from the flue gases and add as a sensible heat to the feed water before the water enters the evaporation circuit of the boiler. Earlier economizer were introduced mainly to recover the heat available in the flue gases that leaves the boiler and provision of this addition heating surface increases the efficiency of steam generators. In the modern boilers used for power generation feed water heaters were used to increase the efficiency of turbine unit and feed water temperature.

An economizer

21

Use of economizer or air heater or both is decided by the total economy that will result in flexibility in operation, maintenance and selection of firing system and other related equipment. Modern medium and high capacity boilers are used both as economizers and air heaters. In low capacity, air heaters may alone be selected. Stop valves and non-return valves may be incorporated to keep circulation in economizer into steam drum when there is fire in the furnace but not feed flow. Tube elements composing the unit are built up into banks and these are connected to inlet and outlet headers.

AIR PREHEATER
Air preheater absorbs waste heat from the flue gases and transfers this heat to incoming cold air, by means of continuously rotating heat transfer element of specially formed metal plates. Thousands of these high efficiency elements are spaced and compactly arranged within 12 sections. Sloped compartments of a radially divided cylindrical shell called the rotor. The housing surrounding the rotor is provided with duct connecting both the ends and is adequately scaled by radial and circumferential scaling.

An air preheater Special sealing arrangements are provided in the provided in the air preheater to prevent the leakage between the air and gas sides. Adjustable plates are also used to help the sealing arrangements and prevent the leakage as expansion occurs. The air preheater heating surface elements are provided with two types of cleaning devices, soot blowers to clean normal devices and washing devices to clean the element when soot blowing alone cannot keep the element clean.

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PULVERIZER
A pulverizer is a mechanical device for the grinding of many types of materials. For example, they are used to pulverize coal for combustion in the steam-generating furnaces of the fossil fuel power plants.

1.

BALL AND TUBE MILLS

A ball mill is a pulverizer that consists of a horizontal cylinder, up to three diameters in length, containing a charge of tumbling or cascading steel balls, pebbles or steel rods. A tube mill is a revolving cylinder of up to five diameters in length used for finer pulverization of ore, rock and other such materials; the materials mixed with water is fed into the chamber from one end, and passes out the other end as slime.

2.

BOWL MILL

It uses tires to crush coal. It is of two types; a deep bowl mill and the shallow bowl mill.

ADVANTAGES OF PULVERIZED COAL

1. 2. Pulverized coal is used for large capacity plants. It is easier to adapt to fluctuating load as there are no limitations on the combustion capacity. 3. Coal with higher ash percentage cannot be used without pulverizing because of the problem of large amount ash deposition after combustion. 4. 5. Increased thermal efficiency is obtained through pulverization. The use of secondary air in the combustion chamber along with the powered coal helps in creating turbulence and therefore uniform mixing of the coal and the air during combustion. 6. Greater surface area of coal per unit mass of coal allows faster combustion as more coal is exposed to heat and combustion. 7. 8. The combustion process is almost free from clinker and slag formation. The boiler can be easily started from cold condition in case of emergency. 23

9. 10.

Practically no ash handling problem. The furnace volume required is less as the turbulence caused aids in complete combustion of the coal with minimum travel of the particles.

Of all components boiler is of our major concern regarding this project. The inside walls of the boiler are surrounded by many pipes for the heating of water to steam.

Different types of boiler tubes

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NEED FOR COATING

Boilers operating with low NOx burners present unusually harsh environments for power plant materials. In particular, a change from normally oxidizing conditions in a standard boiler to reducing conditions in a low NOx boiler, causes usually protective oxides to give way to severe wastage by sulfidation corrosion and erosion. This change, driven by new government regulations for reduction of NOx emissions, has caused high rates of deterioration and, on occasion, early catastrophic failure of major boiler components such as waterwalls and burners. Investigators in the Energy Research Center are developing and evaluating several new coatings for use in boilers coatings which will help prevent early failure of waterwall. Iron aluminide weld overlays containing ternary additions and thermal spray coatings are being investigated for corrosion protection of boiler tubes in Low NOx burners. The primary objective of the research is to identify overlay and thermal spray compositions that provide corrosion protection of waterwall boiler tubes. In the current phase of work, preliminary corrosion tests were conducted on a binary Fe-Al alloy in multiple complex gases to determine which gases will be used for testing of the ternary alloys. Preliminary solid-state corrosion tests were also conducted to simulate slag-metal interactions seen in Low NOx furnaces. Two powder compositions were chosen for testing of the ternary alloys. A matrix of alloys to be tested in both gaseous and solidstate corrosion experiments was produced based on corrosion literature. Recent clean air regulations have required electric power companies to decrease NOx emissions, which has led to a reducing/sulfidizing environment within the boiler. Because of these new boiler conditions, protective oxide scales traditionally formed on the low alloy Cr-Mo steel boiler tubes are now being replaced by less protective sulfide scales1. These sulfide scales are causing unacceptable waterwall wastage rates, which have led to costly forced outages. Therefore, to reduce the corrosion of the boiler tubes, new materials are being considered as corrosion resistant coatings. Iron-aluminides are among the systems being considered as coatings. Iron-aluminum alloys have demonstrated excellent corrosion resistance in high-temperature reducing environments. Iron-aluminum alloys are unsuitable for structural applications as they show a sharp drop in strength above 600C and have low room temperature ductility. Fortunately, recent work has shown that they possess good weldability up to 10wt% Al. Their good weldability coupled with the fact that they are less expensive than Ni-based superalloy and stainless steel coatings, makes iron-aluminum alloys excellent candidates for weld claddings. Thermal spray coatings have also been considered as protection for boiler tubes in Low NOx furnaces. Thermal spray coatings can be advantageous to weld overlays because they are relatively easy to apply and are not susceptible to cold cracking, unlike weld claddings. Plasma spray coatings have typically been used for corrosion and erosion protection, but they possess oxide inclusions and porosity, which can cause flaking of the coating. Recently, High-velocity Oxy-fuel (HVOF) processes have been used to create dense, low-oxide coatings that contain little porosity. These HVOF thermal sprays have outperformed plasma spray coatings during high-temperature corrosion testing. Therefore, HVOF thermal sprays are being considered for coatings as well. 25

Boiler Tube Failure Mechanisms

Erosion
What happens?
Tube experiences metal loss from the OD of the tube. Damage will be oriented on the impact side of the tube. Ultimate failure results from rupture due to increasing strain as tube material erodes away.

Causes:
Erosion may take place by fly ash, falling slag, coal particles, soot blower, etc. Erosion of tube surfaces occurs from impingement on the external surfaces. The erosion medium can be any abrasive in the combustion gas flow stream, but most commonly is associated with impingement of fly ash or soot blowing steam. In cases where soot blower steam is the primary cause, the erosion may be accompanied by thermal fatigue.

The rate of erosion is calculated by the formula given below:

E= [K Ia R (A/C) Vn] / Tg
Where, E Metal Erosion rate K constant depending up on tube material Ia Ash abrasiveness factor A/C Ash to Carbon Ratio V flue gas velocity (current practice limit 15m/s) N index currently taken as 3.3 Tg Flue gas absolute temp

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Water-side Corrosion
Caustic Corrosion
What Happens?
Localized wall loss on the inside diameter (ID) surface of the tube, resulting in increased stress and strain in the tube wall.

Causes:
Caustic attack occurs when there is excessive deposition on ID tube surfaces. This leads to diminished cooling water flow in contact with the tube, which in turn causes local under-deposit boiling and concentration of boiler water chemicals. If combined with boiler water chemistry upsets of high pH, it results in a caustic condition which corrosively attacks and breaks down protective magnetite

Caustic attack at backling ring

Hydrogen Damage
What happens?
Inter-granular micro-cracking. Loss of ductility or embrittlement of the tube material leading to brittle catastrophic rupture.

27

Causes:
Hydrogen damage is most commonly associated with excessive deposition on ID tube surfaces, coupled with a boiler water low pH excursion. Water chemistry is upset, such as what can occur from condenser leaks, particularly with salt water cooling medium, and leads to acidic (low pH) contaminants that can be concentrated in the deposit. Underdeposit corrosion releases atomic hydrogen which migrates into the tube wall metal, reacts with carbon in the steel (decarburization) and causes intergranular separation.

Brittle failure due to hydrogen damage

Pitting
What happens?
Aggressive localized corrosion and loss of tube wall, most prevalent near economizer feedwater inlet on operating boilers. Flooded or non-drainable surfaces are most susceptible during outage periods.

Causes:
Oxygen pitting occurs with the presence of excessive oxygen in boiler water. It can occur during operation as a result of in-leakage of air at pumps, or failure in operation of preboiler water treatment equipment. This also may occur during extended out-of-service periods, such as outages and storage, if proper procedures are not followed in lay-up. Non-drainable locations of boiler circuits, such as superheater loops, sagging horizontal superheater and reheater tubes, and supply lines, are especially susceptible. More generalized oxidation of tubes during idle periods is sometimes referred to as out-ofservice corrosion. Wetted surfaces are subject to oxidation as the water reacts with the iron to form iron oxide. When corrosive ash is present, moisture on tube surfaces from condensation or water washing can react with elements in the ash to form acids that lead to a much more aggressive attack on metal surfaces.

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Oxygen pitting on tube

Stress Corrosion Cracking

What happens?
Failures from SCC are characterized by a thick wall, brittle-type crack. May be found at locations of higher external stresses, such as near attachments.

Causes:
SCC most commonly is associated with austenitic (stainless steel) superheater materials and can lead to either transgranular or intergranular crack propagation in the tube wall. It occurs where a combination of high tensile stresses and a corrosive fluid are present. The damage results from cracks that propagate from the ID. The source of corrosive fluid may be carryover into the superheater from the steam drum or from contamination during boiler acid cleaning if the superheater is not properly protected.

Lack of quality control

Acid attack:
What happens?
Corrosive attack of the internal tube metal surfaces, resulting in an irregular pitted or, in extreme cases, a Swiss cheese appearance of the tube ID. 29

Causes:
Acid attack most commonly is associated with poor control of process during boiler chemical cleanings and/or inadequate post-cleaning passivation of residual acid.

The other causes under poor quality control may include: 1) Maintenance cleaning damage 2) Chemical execution damage 3) Material defects 4) Welding defects

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Fire-side corrosion
What happens?
External tube wall loss and increasing tube strain. Tubes commonly have a pock-marked appearance when scale and corrosion products are removed.

Causes:
Fireside ash corrosion is a function of the ash characteristics of the fuel and boiler design. It usually is associated with coal firing, but also can occur for certain types of oil firing. Ash characteristics are considered in the boiler design when establishing the size, geometry and materials used in the boiler. Combustion gas and metal temperatures in the convection passes are important considerations. Damage occurs when certain coal ash constituents remain in a molten state on the superheater tube surfaces. This molten ash can be highly corrosive.

High-temperature Oxidation:
Similar in appearance and often confused with fireside ash corrosion, high-temperature oxidation can occur locally in areas that have the highest outside surface temperature relative to the oxidation limit of the tube material. Determining the actual root cause between the mechanisms of ash corrosion or high-temperature oxidation is best done by tube analysis and evaluation of both ID and OD scale and deposits.

Sectional photo of a tube with loss from fireside ash corrosion

31

Stress rupture
Short-term Overheating:
What Happens?
Failure results in a ductile rupture of the tube metal and is normally characterized by the classic fish mouth opening in the tube where the fracture surface is a thin edge.

Causes:
Short-term overheat failures are most common during boiler start up. Failures result when the tube metal temperature is extremely elevated from a lack of cooling steam or water flow. A typical example is when superheater tubes have not cleared of condensation during boiler start-up, obstructing steam flow. Tube metal temperatures reach combustion gas temperatures of 1600F or greater which lead to tube failure.

Thin-edged fish-mouth rupture

Long-term Overheating:
What happens?
The failed tube has minimal swelling and a longitudinal split that is narrow when compared to short-term overheat. Tube metal often has heavy external scale build-up and secondary cracking.

Causes:
Long-term overheat occurs over a period of months or years. Superheater and reheat superheater tubes commonly fail after many years of service, as a result of creep. During normal operation, alloy superheater tubes will experience increasing temperature and strain over the life of the tube until the creep life is expended. Furnace water wall tubes also can fail from long-term overheat. In the case of water wall tubes, the tube temperature increases abnormally, most commonly from waterside problems such as 32

deposits, scale or restricted flow. In the case of either superheater or water wall tubes, eventual failure is by creep rupture.

Dissimilar Metal Welds:

What happens?
Failure is preceded by little or no warning of tube degradation. Material fails at the ferritic side of the weld, along the weld fusion line. A failure tends to be catastrophic in that the entire tube will fail across the circumference of the tube section.

Causes:
DMW describes the butt weld where an autenitic (stainless steel) material joins a ferritic alloy, such as SA213T22, material. Failures at DMW locations occur on the ferritic side of the butt weld. These failures are attributed to several factors: high stresses at the austenitic to ferritic interface due to differences in expansion properties of the two materials, excessive external loading stresses and thermal cycling, and creep of the ferritic material. As a consequence, failures are a function of operating temperatures and unit design.

DMW failure where ferric material is completely separated

Photomicrograph showing DMW creep voids at ferric interface

33

Fatigue
Mechanical Fatigue
What happens?
Damage most often results in an OD initiated crack. Tends to be localized to the area of high stress or constraint.

Causes:
Fatigue is the result of cyclical stresses in the component. Distinct from thermal fatigue effects, mechanical fatigue damage is associated with externally applied stresses. Stresses may be associated with vibration due to flue gas flow or sootblowers (high-frequency low-amplitude stresses), or they may be associated with boiler cycling (low-frequency high-amplitude stress mechanism). Fatigue failure most often occurs at areas of constraint, such as tube penetrations, welds, attachments or supports.

Mechanical fatigue failure at an attachment

Fireside corrosion Fatigue:

What happens?
Tubes develop a series of cracks that initiate on the outside diameter (OD) surface and propagate into the tube wall. Since the damage develops over longer periods, tube surfaces tend to develop appearances described as elephant hide, alligator hide or craze cracking. Most commonly seen as a series of circumferential cracks. Usually found on furnace wall tubes of coal-fired once-through boiler designs, but also has occurred on tubes in drum-type boilers.

Causes:
Damage initiation and propagation result from corrosion in combination with thermal fatigue. Tube OD surfaces experience thermal fatigue stress cycles which can occur from normal shedding of slag, sootblowing or from cyclic operation of the boiler. Thermal 34

cycling, in addition to subjecting the material to cyclic stress, can initiate cracking of the less elastic external tube scales and expose the tube base material to repeated corrosion.

Craze cracking on OD surface

Waterside corrosion fatigue:

What happens?
ID initiated wide trans-granular cracks which typically occur adjacent to external attachments.

Causes:
Tube damage occurs due to the combination of thermal fatigue and corrosion. Corrosion fatigue is influenced by boiler design, water chemistry, boiler water oxygen content and boiler operation. A combination of these effects leads to the breakdown of the protective magnetite on the ID surface of the boiler tube. The loss of this protective scale exposes tube to corrosion. The locations of attachments and external weldments, such as buckstay attachments, seal plates and scallop bars, are most susceptible. The problem is most likely to progress during boiler start-up cycles.

Corrosion fatigue on tube ID adjacent to attachment

35

Out of all the above mentioned causes of tube failures wear due to erosion is the major cause which is responsible for eighty percent of all the failures.

METHODS OF WEAR PROTECTION

Several methods for protecting boiler tubes from the severe wear environment in a power generation steam boiler have been employed, with varying degrees of success. Each method offers certain benefits, but may a dd additional risks to asset availability.

TUBE SHIELDS
Virtually every boiler maintenance team is familiar with the use of shields for the protection of boiler tubes. Shields may be as simple as a sacrificial contoured plate of carbon steel welded in place, or as complex as a hand-cuffed superalloy with sophisticated spray coatings. While tube shields may reduce the frequency of tube leaks and the opportunity for collateral damage caused by high-velocity steam cutting, there are multiple issues that make tube shields a poor performing, if not risky, solution. The objective of tube shields, to prevent hot gas from contacting the heat exchanger tubes of the boiler, it significantly reduces the efficiency of the unit by impeding heat transfer. This heat transfer degradation is caused not only by the increased material of the shield, but also by the shields tendency to entrap dead air between itself and the tube that it is protecting. The additional area represented by the tube shield typically constricts gas flow through and between tubes in a zone that already may have a limited flow area. Most significantly, the affixing of tube shields is very difficult and unpredictable. Because of the severe operating environment in a steam boiler furnace, attaching a tube shield (either by bolting, welding, or other method) so that it will not come free is a tenuous task. Tube shields that come loose can block gas flow, which further reduces heat transfer efficiency and can be the source of flow eddies that concentrate wear, accelerating tube failure. Tube shields that fall to the bottom of the furnace can lead to the reduced life of clinker grinders.

36

TUBE SHIELDS INSTALLED IN BOILER TUBES

VARIOUS TYPES OF TUBE SHIELDS

37

THERMAL SPRAY COATINGS

Thermal spraying techniques are coating processes in which melted (or heated) materials are sprayed onto a surface. The "feedstock" (coating precursor) is heated by electrical (plasma or arc) or chemical means (combustion flame). Thermal spraying can provide thick coatings (approx. thickness range is 20 micrometers to several mm, depending on the process and feedstock), over a large area at high deposition rate as compared to other coating processes such as electroplating, physical and chemical vapor deposition. Coating materials available for thermal spraying include metals, alloys, ceramics, plastics and composites. They are fed in powder or wire form, heated to a molten or semimolten state and accelerated towards substrates in the form of micrometer-size particles. Combustion or electrical arc discharge is usually used as the source of energy for thermal spraying. Resulting coatings are made by the accumulation of numerous sprayed particles. The surface may not heat up significantly, allowing the coating of flammable substances. A common feature of all thermal spray coatings is their lenticular or lamellar grain structure resulting from the rapid solidification of small globules, flattened from striking a cold surface at high velocities.

Schematic diagram of thermally sprayed spherical particle impinged onto a flat substrate

38

Schematic Diagram of Thermal Spray Metal Coating

A typical microstructure of a metallic thermally sprayed coating. The lamellar structure is interspersed with oxide inclusions and porosity.

Coating quality is usually assessed by measuring its porosity, oxide content, macro and micro-hardness, bond strength and surface roughness. Generally, the coating quality increases with increasing particle velocities. Protective spray coatings, including HVOF, plasma spray, laser, and others, have become very popular over the past two decades. While spray coatings have provided good wear 39

resistance in some applications, their popularity has been primarily driven by the mystique of the technology, along with considerable marketing investments by OEMs and other large coating manufacturers. Though direct application of spray coatings alleviates some of the issues that plague tube shields, sprays have experienced limited success in protecting boiler tubes from fly ash erosion in severe environments. The spray coating process, which typically utilizes a hot molten carrier material to move hard particles into place, tends to produce limited hard particle density in the resulting coating layer. The higher the density of hard particles, the more difficult it is to make and keep the carrier material fluid. Spray coating is analogous to a painting process, albeit a very sophisticated one. Typically, multiple coats are applied atop one another to build up the material thickness. This process, which generally results in mechanical sticky bonding between particles and coating layers, can be susceptible to oxide and other contamination between layers. This limits the total available thickness, and may, in some cases, threaten the integrity of overall coating adhesion, resulting in spalling and chipping. The bond issues described above can be particularly problematic in the severe environment of a power generation furnace. Frequent thermal shock, especially in soot blowing lanes, generates the rapid heating and cooling of dissimilar materials, causing differential expansion and contraction. This differential movement creates extreme stress in the coating bond zones. Comparing properties of unsupported coatings with wrought/cast bulk equivalents: PROPERTY Strength Ductility Impact strength Porosity Hardness Wear Resistance Corrosion Resistance Machining COATING low (5-30%) very low (1-10%) low high higher particulate/micro-hardness high low poor WROUGHT/CAST high (100%) high (100%) high low higher bulk/macro-hardness low high good

40

Several variations of thermal spraying are distinguished:

Plasma spraying Wire arc spraying High velocity oxy-fuel coating spraying (HVOF)

PLASMA SPRAY COATINGS

In plasma spraying process, the material to be deposited (feedstock) typically as a powder, sometimes as a liquid, suspension or wire is introduced into the plasma jet, emanating from a plasma torch. In the jet, where the temperature is on the order of 10,000 K, the material is melted and propelled towards a substrate. There, the molten droplets flatten, rapidly solidify and form a deposit. Commonly, the deposits remain adherent to the substrate as coatings; free-standing parts can also be produced by removing the substrate. There are a large number of technological parameters that influence the interaction of the particles with the plasma jet and the substrate and therefore the deposit properties. These parameters include feedstock type, plasma gas composition and flow rate, energy input, torch offset distance, substrate cooling, etc. The deposits consist of a multitude of pancake-like lamellae called 'splats', formed by flattening of the liquid droplets. As the feedstock powders typically have sizes from micrometers to above 100 micrometers, the lamellae have thickness in the micrometer range and lateral dimension from several to hundreds of micrometers. Between these lamellae, there are small voids, such as pores, cracks and regions of incomplete bonding. As a result of this unique structure, the deposits can have properties significantly different 41

from bulk materials. These are generally mechanical properties, such as lower strength and modulus, higher strain tolerance, and lower thermal and electrical conductivity. Also, due to the rapid solidification, metastable phases can be present in the deposits. This technique is mostly used to produce coatings on structural materials. Such coatings provide protection against high temperatures (for example thermal barrier coatings for exhaust heat management), corrosion, erosion, wear; they can also change the appearance, electrical or tribological properties of the surface, replace worn material, etc. When sprayed on substrates of various shapes and removed, free-standing parts in the form of plates, tubes, shells, etc. can be produced. It can also be used for powder processing (spheroidization, homogenization, modification of chemistry, etc.). In this case, the substrate for deposition is absent and the particles solidify during flight or in a controlled environment (e.g., water).

PLASMA SPRAYING WIRE ARC SPRAYING Wire arc spray is a form of thermal spraying where two consumable metal wires are fed independently into the spray gun. These wires are then charged and an arc is generated between them. The heat from this arc melts the incoming wire, which is then entrained in air jet from the gun. This entrained molten feedstock is then deposited onto a substrate. This process is commonly used for metallic, heavy coatings. Plasma transferred wire arc (PTWA) is another form of wire arc spray which deposits a coating on the internal surface of a cylinder, or on the external surface of a part of any geometry. It is predominantly known for its use in coating the cylinder bores of an engine, enabling the use of Aluminum engine blocks without the need for heavy cast iron sleeves. A single conductive wire is used as "feedstock" for the system. A supersonic plasma jet melts the wire, atomizes it and propels it onto the substrate. The plasma jet is formed by a transferred arc between a non-consumable cathode and the type of a wire. After atomization, forced air transports the stream of molten droplets onto the bore wall. The particles flatten when they impinge on the surface of the substrate, due to the high kinetic energy. The particles rapidly solidify upon contact. The stacked particles make up a high wear resistant coating. This process utilizes a single wire as the feedstock material. 42

All conductive wires up to and including 0.0625" (1.6mm) can be used as feedstock material, including "cored" wires. It can be used to apply a coating to the wear surface of engine or transmission components to replace a bushing or bearing. For example, using PTWA to coat the bearing surface of a connecting rod offers a number of benefits including reductions in weight, cost, friction potential, and stress in the connecting rod.

Arc Wire Sprayed 13Cr Steel Coating on Aluminium Substrate. Coating designed to give gripping surface to rubber.

Arc Wire Sprayed 13Cr Steel/Aluminium bronze Psuedo-alloy Coating Made possible by feeding two different wires into the arc.

Arc Wire Sprayed Nickel Aluminium Alloy Coating

43

HIGH VELOCITY OXY-FUEL PROCESS

A mixture of gaseous or liquid fuel and oxygen is fed into a combustion chamber, where they are ignited and combusted continuously. The resultant hot gas at a pressure close to 1 MPa emanates through a convergingdiverging nozzle and travels through a straight section. The fuels can be gases (hydrogen, methane, propane, propylene, acetylene, natural gas, etc.) or liquids (kerosene, etc.). The jet velocity at the exit of the barrel (>1000 m/s) exceeds the speed of sound. A powder feed stock is injected into the gas stream, which accelerates the powder up to 800 m/s. The stream of hot gas and powder is directed towards the surface to be coated. The powder partially melts in the stream, and deposits upon the substrate. The resulting coating has low porosity and high bond strength. HVOF coatings may be as thick as 12 mm (1/2"). It is typically used to deposit wear and corrosion resistant coatings on materials, such as ceramic and metallic layers. Common powders include WC-Co, chromium carbide, MCrAlY, and alumina. The process has been most successful for depositing cermet materials (WCCo, etc.) and other corrosion-resistant alloys (stainless steels, nickel-based alloys, aluminium, hydroxyapatite for medical implants, etc.).

44

Thermal Spray Coating Photomicrographs HVOF Spray Chromium Carbide/Nickel Chromium Coating

HVOF sprayed Chromium Carbide/Nickel Chromium Coating on Cast Iron Substrate

HVOF sprayed Chromium Carbide/Nickel Chromium Coating

WELD OVERLAYS
Weld overlay materials are available in a variety of compositions, including chrome carbide, vanadium carbide, tungsten carbide, inconnels, stainless steel, and other exotic materials. All weld overlays generally utilize the same approach to inhibiting wear, with varying compositions selected depending upon environmental variables. In an environment where corrosion is a significant factor, a stainless steel overlay might provide adequate protection. Whereas, a tungsten carbide weld overlay may perform better when corrosion is nominal and the primary wear mode is erosion. While their use in boiler tubes has been limited over the past several years, some weld overlay compositions have shown promise in protecting tubes against corrosive attack. 45

This is particularly true of inconnel weld overlays, which are becoming commonly used as protection against waterwall corrosive attack. While these, and other weld overlays, are often used for corrosive applications, their resistance to erosion is minimal when compared against more advanced erosion resistant materials. Due to the relatively low tech nature of welding, many of the constraints related to spray coatings are even more relevant to weld overlays. Weld overlay procedures do not typically achieve the same temperatures or particle movement velocities as those attained with spray coating processes. This significantly limits the amount of hard particles that can be deposited for a given amount of carrier material. Typical hard particle volumetric densities for weld overlay materials rarely exceed 28% by volume, the remainder consisting of relatively soft carrier material. While there are many corrosion resistant carrier materials that can be used in the weld overlay process, the nature of such materials (which makes them useful as a carrier in the weld process) precludes them from withstanding high velocity particle erosion. Erosion resistance is directly proportional to the density of the materials hard particles (see Figures 3 and 4). High localized heating in the weld overlay process typically causes absorption of substrate carbon, known as carbon dilution, into the weld overlay material. This dilution of carbon causes a reduction in the materials ability to withstand high velocity erosive attack. This extreme localized heating, combined with the difficulty in controlling cooling rates, also results in check cracking of the weld overlay material. This check cracking may propagate into the base tube material, leading to premature tube failure. Check cracking at the weld surface offers a path for high velocity erosive material to penetrate into the protective layer; a phenomenon known as channeling.

46

INFILTRATION BRAZED TUNGSTEN CARBIDE CLADDING

47

Infiltration brazing means to fill by capillary action with molten filler metal, a porous coating or structure that has a melting point higher that the filler metal. While there are many means for applying the carbide and braze in preparation for infiltration braze coating, the principal method involves a non-woven preformed cloth. The particles used in this process are sized and mixed to provide a stable, dense coating. Figure 1 illustrates the process steps from powder mixing to brazing. Figure 2 shows the resulting microstructure of the cladding and the interface. The constraints on this process are straight-forward. Infiltration brazing is performed in a vacuum furnace. Large parts as measured by volume, weight or area, are often segmented prior to cladding to avoid limitations of furnace size.

When Tungsten (W) and Carbon (C) unite they become one of the hardest of all carbides. Tungsten Carbide is an ideal material when confronting severe abrasion applications. Tungsten Carbide Hardfacing will reduce eductor wear and increase the eductor's service life.

48

The higher cost of tungsten carbide-clad parts stems from the manufacturing process. Basically, the process starts with a substratefor example, a cast and/or machined raw body with metallurgical properties to optimize cladding. Then technicians protection available for cloth imbedded Tungsten Carbide is the choice to provide the bestapply a flexible, organic extreme wear with evenlydistributed, size-controlled particles of tungsten carbide. The cloth can conform to complex geometries. and impact. It and Alpha silicon carbide offer the best wear performance and corrosion The technicians available fitted tungsten carbide cloth with a similar cloth containing nickel, resistance of anyoverlay thematerials. The impact resistant and corrosion resistant chromium, boron, and other braze elements. Then they heat the screw selecting from the properties of tungsten carbide platelets and forms can be improved by element in a vacuum furnace, which burns off the organics and by selecting from the braze alloy throughout the tungsten carbide different grades of the material orinfiltrates the molten various application layer. technologies. Used alone or in combination with other wear resistant materials, tungsten carbide whether in the form of cladding, cast in steel or in the form of a weld overlay The resultant cladding has no It can offer wear life in is uniform times that of alumina simply lasts where others fail. interconnected porosity, excess of 5 in depth and loading, and is metallurgically ability for continuous with a bond strength in up to of 70,000 psi (480 ceramic and hasbonded to the substrateoperation a temperaturesexcess 900 degrees F (4,922 kg/m2). C). It can also be machined to very tight tolerances and to fine surface finishes as needed. The performance of the tungsten carbide surface Efficiency, Fan Wheels pulverizer and It is excellent product for use on fan blades, Highextends beyond much greater resistance to abrasion from mill liners, target plates in high wear areas, Sand Mixers, Sand Mullers and Sand roller ingredient particles. There also is improved resistance to corrosion from chemical reactions and erosion caused by and elbows where extreme abrasion exists. Plows and in pipesliquid cavitation. Tungsten carbide provides overall wear performance that is also superior to other steel wear protection methods. Tungsten Carbide Cladding is applied in the form of solid carbide platelets either AeroTech Bonded or Brazed onto the desired protection area. Brazing offers the highest performing tungsten carbide cladded wear parts with metallurgical bond strengths in excess of 22,000 psi.

Tungsten Carbide Shapes - like ceramics tungsten carbide may also be formed into monolithic shapes for applications such as valve seats, seal rings, nozzles, bushings and other mechanical components.

Carbistel parts formed from casting abrasion resistant steel around tungsten carbide granules forming a carbide steel matrix. Ideal for the highest impact applications where gouging and crushing wear is present.

49

TufCote Is made of cast tungsten carbide granules in a self fluxing nickel matrix that is both abrasion and corrosion resistant. TufCote can be applied in various grade and granule sizes to meet your application needs. It is ideal for shredding, crushing and pulverizing applications where impact and fine particle wear are both present.

Infiltration brazed tungsten carbide cladding overcomes the constraints of tube shields, spray coatings, and weld overlay materials, as described below. Infiltration brazing does not require the movement of hard particles. Therefore, hard particle densities of more than 70%, by volume, can be achieved. Infiltration brazing creates a metallurgical bond between the hard particles, the carrier material, and the boiler tube to be protected, thus keeping the particles in place. Brazing precludes the introduction of contaminants and the development of oxides in the protective layer, ensuring consistent cladding integrity. Infiltration brazing does not allow for significant carbon dilution into the protective layer, ensuring uniform wear resistance from top to bottom. Infiltration brazing allows for a deposition thickness as high as 120 mils, providing extreme life extension when required. The metallurgical bond and high toughness of the carrier material enables infiltration brazed cladding to withstand extreme thermal shock and impact. 50

 Infiltration brazed tungsten carbide has a heat transfer coefficient similar in magnitude to common tube steels (~30 W/ (m-K)), and the metallurgical bond ensures that there is no significant heat transfer impediment at the bond surface. Controlled application and cooling during infiltration brazing ensures that protection is virtually crack-free. Based on more than twenty years of research, Conforma Clad has developed three standard tungsten carbide cladding formulas (WC200, WC210, WC219) that provide superior wear protection for a wide range of operating conditions and wear modes (including abrasion, erosion, corrosion and impact, individually or in a combination). Engineers evaluate each substrate and operating environment to determine the best cladding formula. In addition to the standard tungsten carbide cladding formulas, offer custom formulations to fit specific customer requirements.

Cladding Specifications

Standard cladding thickness ranges from 0.020 to 0.125 inches. Most cladding is applied by hand. In cases where there is not sufficient hand access, mechanical aids may be employed. Inside diameters (IDs) as small as 1/4" and 6 long have been clad with the aid of an application rod. Chamfers and radii as small as 1/8 can be clad. Sharp edges (where cladding is required on both sides) will be clad with two types of cloth. The side experiencing greater wear will be clad with the more wear resistant cladding. The other side will be clad with a more ductile material. This combination helps relieve excess stresses that can cause fracturing during the cool-down portion of the cycle.

Standard Tungsten Carbide Cladding Formulas Cladding Composition (Weight Percentage) WC 200 Tungsten Carbide* Nickel Chromium Other Total carbide loading from other carbide formation 62% 30% 6% 2% WC 210 55% 34% 7% 4% WC 219 48% 39% 8% 5%

68%

66%

62%

51

*Tungsten Carbide (WC) includes cobalt bonded WC. Cladding Properties WC 200 Density (lb/in3) Thermal Conductivity (BTU in/hft2F) Metallurgical Bond Strength (psi) Porosity Rockwell Hardness (HRC)** 0.44 230 >70,000 <3% 64-70 WC 210 0.42 200 >70,000 <3% 60-66 WC 219 0.40 170 >70,000 <3% 56-62

**Cladding is a composite of tungsten carbide particles dispersed in a nickel-based alloy matrix. The extremely hard carbide particles, with a Vickers Diamond Pyramid Hardness of about 2000 DPH50g[1865 DPH50g is equivalent to 80 Rockwell C Hardness (HRC)], are surrounded by a two-phase matrix (300-800 DPH50g, equivalent to 30-64 HRC). Because of the heterogeneous structure of the cladding, direct Rockwell hardness measurements are an average of the hard particles and matrix, and are not representative of the individual components of the composite. Characteristics of Finished Conforma Clad Surfaces Percentage of tungsten carbide Distribution No interconnected porosity Rockwell C Hardness Transverse rupture strength strength 48%-62% Uniform distribution of large & small carbide particles throughout the composite Since pores at such low levels are not interconnected, claddings are impermeable to high pressure gases and corrosive fluids 64 to 70

Shear strength at bond lines 70,000 PSI 80,000-100,000 PSI

The result is a hard protective layer that is extremely wear resistant and very durable. Cladding combines the hardness of tungsten carbide and the corrosion resistance of nickel chrome boron, resulting in protection that outperforms the competition. Bond strengths are estimated to be in excess of 70,000 PSI, making material highly resistant to chipping, cracking and flaking. Field applications verify that 1/16" of brazed tungsten carbide cladding provides the same erosion protection as 3/4" of chrome carbide weld overlay or 3" of carbon steel. It develop custom cloth formulations for industry specific applications, and even for individual customers. It clad customers components in certain situations, but also can fabricate and provide 52

finished parts that meet customer specifications.

BOILER TUBE SOLUTIONS: THEY LAST FOR MORE THAN 10 TIMES IN COMPARISON TO OTHER WEAR SOLUTIONS SOME MORE PROPERTIES: Conforma Clad Technology Conforma Clad can help reduce the risk of boiler tube leaks by protecting your replacement boiler tube segments from severe wear. Cladding withstands the extremes of thermal shock, erosion, abrasion, corrosion and impact and because application process creates a true metallurgical bond, it is not subject to chipping and spalling

Erosion Protection in Sootblower Lanes

Eliminates need for tube shields Composite/Profiled Cladding Proprietary process ensures consistent thickness and density

Extended Predictable Life in Fluidized Beds

Linear wear offers predictable life extrapolation Minimal dilution ratio,true metallurgical bond Hot erosion 10X Inconel 622, 11X 312SS weld overlay

Random 22 ft. Lengths Available

Meets the requirements of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (S Stamp) Inventory programs available Pendants, U-bends, complex shapes clad after fabrication

Diameter Range

Length Range

53

ID Clad OD Clad Substrates

3/4" - 12" 3/4" - 12" Cladding can be applied to most carbon steels, stainless steels and alloy steels.

1/2" - 4' 1/2" - 24'

Temperature Continuous operation at temperatures up to 1900 F (1038 C) with nominal performance impact. Able to withstand transients in excess of 2000 F. Compatibility Compatible with chemicals commonly found in coal and fly ash, including hydrochloric acid, hydrogen fluoride and sulfuric acid.

54

Comparison:The various researches are going on the world on boiler tube coating to characterize and compare them and suggest which one is better. So various equipments and criteria are used for their comparison: The ERC team uses a wide range of laboratory facilities to fully characterize and compare. Processing facilities include an automated welding laboratory for developing weld overlay coatings and an electrode position laboratory for applying electrodeposited intermetallic coatings. The thermal spray coatings evaluated by the group are prepared by National Laboratories and commercial thermal spray vendor. A state-of-the-art high temperature corrosion facility is used to evaluate materials in both sulfidation and oxidation corrosion environments. The corrosion laboratory facility includes a thermo gravimetric (TG) corrosion test unit for quantitative kinetic studies and furnaces dedicated to sulfidation, oxidation and mixed environments. Of special value to the project is a unique Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope which makes it possible to directly observe high temperature corrosion and oxidation processes in real time under actual environmental conditions. The erosion resistance of coatings is measured in a special test facility specifically built for this application. This facility is capable of evaluating erosion velocities between 20 and 90 m/s (impact velocities are measured by a laser velocimeter),temperatures up to 500C, a range of impact angles from 20 to 90, and a variety of erodents from hard alumina particles to simulated fly ash. Coating microstructures are characterized both before and after exposure in a boiler in the Universitys microscopy laboratories. These include light optical microscopy with quantitative image analysis for measurement of coating constituents, a variety of scanning electron microscopes for higher magnification of planar and cross-sectional analysis and several analytical electron microscopes for precise measurement of the chemical constituents in the coatings.

55

Comparison on the basis of properties :Properties Conforma clad Very high Thermal spray Very low Weld overlays High Wear Tiles Low Ar plates

Bond strength Complex geometries Abrasion resistance Erosion resistance Corrosion resistance Impact resistance Oxide Level Temperature Resistance Resist multiple modes of wear

N/A

Yes

No

Difficult

Difficult

Very low

Very high

Modetare

High

Very high

Very low

Very high

Low to moderate Low

Low

Low

Very low

High

Low

Low

Low

Moderate

Low

Moderate

Very low

Low

Low

High

Low

Low

Low

High

Moderate

Low

Very low

High

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

56

Case study:
NTPC BADARPUR:1 PROBLEM: - EROSION IN ECONOMISER TUBE OF UNIT 1 ECO There was four failures in eco 1 of unit 1 in year 2006 all were due to erosion. On analysis with the abovementioned formula for erosion rate, it was found that all factor are constant then why erosion at only few places

ANALYSIS: Factor influencing equation greatly is V to the power n. And on critical analysis it was found that erosion is localized and somehow velocity is increasing beyond 15 m/s at some particular places. Cause for this was found misalignment Causes for misalignment are: Bad shape and design of eco clamps permitting coils misalignment and hence increased velocities at some locations resulting increase rate of erosion and hence failures.

Method of wear protection: TUBE SHIELD Objective of tube shield is to prevent hot gas from contacting heat exchanger. This leads to: - Reduced efficiency. - Constricts gas flow through and between tubes in a zone. - Tube shields that become loose block gas path and can be source of flow eddies.

57

Alignment: Assessment of the damage reveals that poor alignment is the main cause for localized erosion which in turn leads to high maintenance cost and unreliable equipment. Misalignment may be due to: Poor maintenance. Unfriendly supporting system.

58

Modification of eco 1 supporting system: OLDER SYSTEM Made of 6 mm flats. Highly flexible makes coil alignment poor. Tube fixing is a problem (Maintenance Unfriendly). Gap between tubes and coils not maintained.

Modified support: Made of 20 mm thick plates. Maintenance friendly. It itself cares the positioning of tubes and the distance between coils and/or tubes. Tube placement is not a problem. Itself make coil alignment perfect. Highly robust and sturdy Coil bending can be completely avoided while maintenance.

59

Result: There is not even a single leakage due to erosion in unit 1 eco 1 after replacement of clamps (90% replacement done). On inspection of 8 coils in next o/h, even a single meter of tube replacement was not required.

Savings: Savings due to reduction in outage of unit. Saving due to reduction in material consumption for overhauling. Reduction in overhauling time. Desired quality can be achieved and reduction in maintenance induced defects.

Outage cost
Rs.13.68 lakhs per leakage (approx.) Assuming 24 hours outage And for 4 leakages 13.68 X4 = 54.72 lakhs (approx.)

Maintenance cost
Annual O/H 16 lakhs Capital O/H 68.35 lakhs In this overhauling we have used no material hence saving of 16 lakhs

TOTAL
16+54 = 70 Lakhs in one year. Note: saving estimate is indicative only for quantifying the gain from modification. Although detailed study required for payback period and other gain in long period.

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LIST OF KNOWN VENDORS FOR WEAR RESISTANT COATING

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. M/s. Metallizing Equipment Co,Pvt.Limited. M/s. Anode Plasma spray Limited M/s. S V X Powder M surface Engg. Pvt. Limited. M/s. Industrial Processors & Metallizors Pvt. Limited. M/s Wear Resist Technologies Pvt. Limited. M/s. LARSEN & TOUBRO LIMITED

CONCLUSION
Power generation plant owners and maintenance teams are expected to use innovative methods to increase the availability and productivity of their steam boilers and other large capital assets. Infiltration brazed tungsten carbide, weld overlays, thermal sprays etc are proven technology available to provide substantial protection against the most common causes of aggressive equipment wear. Infiltration brazed tungsten carbide, while not as well known as spray coatings and other older technologies, has proven its ability to simultaneously withstand extremes of thermal shock, erosion, abrasion, corrosion, and impact. Through the use of this ultra-high performance protection material, plant operators can significantly reduce the risk of boiler tube leaks, greatly increasing levels of unit availability and overall capital asset productivity.

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