INTRODUCTION:

Boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including central heating, boiler-based power generation, cooking, and sanitation. Materials: The pressure vessel of a boiler is usually made of steel (or alloy steel), or historically of wrought iron. Stainless steel, especially of the austenitic types, is not used in wetted parts of boilers due to corrosion and stress corrosion cracking However, ferritic stainless st1eel is often used in super heater sections that will not be exposed to boiling water, and electrically-heated stainless steel shell boilers are allowed under the European "Pressure Equipment Directive" for production of steam for sterilizers and disinfectors

Types of boiler: fire tube and water tube boiler. In fire tube hot gases are passed through tube and water surround it whereas in case of water tube boiler, water passed through tube and hot gases surrounds tubing

Fire tube boiler

Water tube boiler

Welding method used to make boiler: fillet weld and butt weld is used to
construct boiler

BUTT WELD WELDING DEFECTS:

FILLET WELD

Misalignment: This type of geometric defect is generally caused by a setup/fit up Problem or trying to join plates of different thickness

Overlap & Undercutting: The protrusion of weld metal beyond the weld toe or
weld root called as overlap. It is caused by poor welding techniques and can generally be overcome by an improved weld procedure.

An unfilled groove along the edge of the weld called as undercutting

Concave and convex weld: Misshaped welds are caused by a combination of

incorrect electrode current and speed. Excessive concavity (lack of reinforcement) results in insufficient throat thickness in relation to the nominated weld size. Excessive convexity results in poor weld contour. In multilayer welds this can give rise to slag inclusions

Hot cracks- Solidification cracks, which are formed during solidification in the weld metal. Cold cracks- Due to higher contraction stresses in the time of their formation. Lamellar cracks- They are mainly formed in fillet welds and thick through thickness loaded plates. Reheat cracks- They are formed mainly during stress-relief annealing of welded joints. Whatever might be the crack type, once it develops, it propagates so that it causes the material to degrade and hence cause the leakage. There may be many factors that cause these cracks and some of them are cited here. Inadequate corrosion protection of the joints which may lead to material oxidation and hence corrosion cracking. Aging long term usage of the joint without replacing causes material degradation and it fails.

Fluctuating stresses at the joints results in fatigue failure of the joint and the crack initiates at the failure. This crack keeps propagating if the joint continues to be in the fluctuating stress environment. Residual stress due to heat affecting zone at the weldbeds resulting from the poor weld heat treatments. Initial installation defects- lack of care in proper placement and positioning of the welding torch results in the initial defects which may become a cause for the crack initiation.
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 The crack thus occurred can result in certain heavy losses to the operating system which may further incur damage of the system. At the context the warships cannot afford the losses caused by these cracks. Immediate assistance may also not be available at the amidst the sea. Some specific losses can be classified as functional losses and general losses.

Functional losses: Material degradation due to erosion corrosion- corroded area starts leaching and the amount of material erodes away causing further propagation of the cracks. Inadequate water supply to the boiler- the leakage causes the shortage of supply of water which leads to reduction in engine efficiency. The area around the joints is under such a high temperature and pressure that a minor leakage would completely explode the engine. Affects the working conditions of other surrounding equipment

General losses
The loss of water Reduced pressure in the supply system. Raising pressures to make up for such losses increases energy consumption. Maintenance cost increased due to inspection and corrected measure taken Property loss

Different techniques available:

It is essential to detect the crack and select proper remedies for the crack to fix the leakage at the joint to the water drum. In this case study, we will introduce through various crack detection techniques via non-destructive evaluations (NDE). Following are the NDT techniques to detect the crack generally used for boiler joint:

Visual inspection Liquid penetrant testing Radiography Ultrasonic inspection

Visual Inspection
1. The surfaces and back sides of the welds shall undergo a complete visual inspection, with the aid of optical (magnifying) appliances where necessary, to check their external characteristics. The following characteristics shall be checked: Completeness Dimensional accuracy Compliance with the specified weld shape
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2. The dimensional accuracy shall be checked with suitable measuring instruments on a random sampling basis. When measuring fillet weld throat thicknesses, measuring gauges which measure with sufficient accuracy in throats which are not an exact right angle shall be used where necessary. 3. When checking for the correct shape of weld and external defects, attention shall be paid to the following Weld edge angles (transitions to surrounding material )

Misalignment of edges Undercuts Visible pores and slag inclusions Fused weld spatter Arc strikes on the surface of the base material Concave root surface and incomplete root fusion

Liquid penetrant testing Liquid penetrant inspection depends mainly on a penetrant's effectively wetting the surface of a solid workpiece, flowing over that surface to form a continuous and reasonably uniform coating, and then migrating into cavities that are open to the surface. Following are the steps involved in inspection 1. Section of material with a surface-breaking crack that is not visible to the naked eye. 2. Penetrant is applied to the surface.
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3. Excess penetrant is removed. 4. Developer is applied, rendering the crack visible Fluorescent penetrant that are usually green in colour and fluoresce brilliantly under ultraviolet light usually preferred as penetrant. Their high sensitivity enables the crack detection in intricate regions. However only surface level cracks can be detected by this technique.

Radiography Testing:

Real-time radiography (also known as radioscopy), a two-dimensional image can be immediately displayed on a viewing screen or television monitor. This technique does not involve the creation of a latent image; instead, the unabsorbed radiation is converted into an optical or electronic signal, which can be viewed immediately or can be processed in near real time with electronic and video equipment. This capability allows the inspection of internal mechanisms and enhances the detection of cracks and planar defects by manipulating the part to achieve the proper orientation for flaw detection. The possible solutions that can be done after detection of the cracks are as follows Braze the joint with suitable weld material to the parent material and allow it to solidify. If the crack is not repairable replace the joint. Give fillets to the weld beds so that the stress concentration is avoided. Use certain corrosion protective coatings.

Certain preventive techniques that are reported in the literature can be adopted in order to prevent the occurrence of the cracks. Some of them are cited here Use the Fillet welded joints made of ultra-high-strength steel (UHSS) S960. The fillet welded joints had adequate load carrying capacity presuming that weld quality is proper. Mechanical treatment like ultrasonic peening can be done for increasing the life of weldments. Ultrasonic peening results in strengthening metal to combat fatigue failure, stress corrosion cracking, and any number of other potential problems that can weaken metal. Applied via ultrasonic and mechanical impulses to the high-stressed locations in the weld

Ultrasonic inspection

Ultrasonic inspection is a nondestructive method in which beams of high-frequency sound waves are introduced into materials for the detection of surface and subsurface flaws in the material. The sound waves travel through the material with some attendant loss of energy (attenuation) and are reflected at interfaces. The reflected beam is displayed and then analyzed to define the presence and location of flaws or discontinuities. Flaws are detected by monitoring Reflection of sound from interfaces consisting of material boundaries or discontinuities within the metal itself Time of transit of a sound wave through the test piece from the entrance point at the transducer to the exit point at the transducer Attenuation of sound waves by absorption and scattering within the test piece Features in the spectral response for either a transmitted or a reflected signal Inspection frequency is between 0.1 to 25 MHz. Ultrasonic inspection enables detection of flaws deep in the part due to their superior penetrating power. Also only one surface needs to be accessed and high portable and provides an outfit to be processed digitally by a computer to characterize the crack and to determine the material properties. However reference standards are required to detect the crack in the water drum.

Conclusion: As per the space available, atmospheric condition, operating condition

Non-destructive technique is selected. Inspection is done by using this techniques and corrected action is taken.

References: 1. http://www.tech.plym.ac.uk/sme/strc201/wdefects.htm
2. Nondestructive

Evaluation and Quality Control 9th Edition

ASM international 3. Rehabilitation and repair of weldments by ultrasonic peening

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