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Up Topic Welding Industry / Technical Discussions / does it need PWHT
- - By jiweiming (**) Date 04-05-2007 02:22
If the operation medium in the vessel or pipe includes H2S, does it need PWHT to insist corrosion, to avoid sscc(sulphuric stress corrosion cracking)?
Parent - - By G.S.Crisi (****) Date 04-05-2007 15:18
It depends on the material the pipe is made of and its thickness. The applicable standard will say whether or not PWHT is necessary. If the corrosive substance is H2S, then the medium into the pipe is certainly a chemical substance, possibly crude oil.
In this case, the applicable standard will be ASME/ANSI B.31.3
Giovanni S. Crisi
Sao Paulo - Brazil
Parent - By js55 (*****) Date 04-05-2007 15:37
And if NACE MRO175 is imposed then hardnesses become an issue. HRC 22 for carbon steels is memory serves.
Parent - - By jiweiming (**) Date 04-06-2007 01:15
Thanks ,Crisi. The pipe material is A106Gr.B and the size is DN40x7mm. The medium into the pipe is heavy  crude oil from MIDDLE-EAST(KUWATII). what does B31.3 SAY?
Parent - By js55 (*****) Date 04-06-2007 13:18
B31.3 will not determine anything specific to H2S service other than a general addressing of corrosive services that can be physically harmful. But these are not metallurgical or mechanical requirements due to the specifics of a particular medium such as H2S. This is essentially left up to NACE, or project specifications. B31.3 determines requirements based more upon temperatures, pressures, and cylicity.
Parent - - By G.S.Crisi (****) Date 04-07-2007 14:40
For a 7 mm thickness, B31.3 does not prescribe any PWHT.
Now, as js55 has pointed out, B31.3 requirements are based on metallurgical and mechanical strength considerations, not corrosion.
It's a well known fact that a stressed metal is less resistant to corrosion, so it may be possible that, although not necessary from a mechanical or metallurgical point of view, the PWHT is necessary to improve the corrosion resistance of the pipe material.
In this case, the project specifications should state whether or not PWHT is necessary, and they (the specifications) must be followed.
If H2S is a problem, ASTM A-106 Gr. B is certainly NOT the suitable material for the pipe. A-106 is plain carbon steel, whose corrosion resistance is very low.
Back in my days of erector engineer, I took part in the construction of an oil refinery in Argentina, where H2S was also a problem. All crude oil piping was made of A-335 Gr P5 (5% chromium steel), to withstand H2S corrosion.
Now, it's also possible that the piping designer has adopted a suitable corrosion allowance (i.e., an extra pipe thickness) to take up the corrosion and leave untouched the base metal, i.e., the one that must withstand internal pressure. This you should check with the project engineer, although the corrosion allowance is usually stated on the project specifications.
Giovanni S. Crisi
Parent - - By js55 (*****) Date 04-09-2007 14:23
Giovanni touched upon a very important issue that fabricators are seldom privy to. Thats the idea that corrosion is seldom thought of in terms of elimination. It more often involves economics, corrosion allowances, time to failure, service life, etc.
Now SSCC is different becasue we're talking about cracking as the problem and not corrosion.  But quite often owners will go with a cheaper alloy and just replace it occasionally.
Parent - By Gunther Date 04-22-2007 06:55
Hi Gents.

Just adding my 2cents for what is worth.  In accordance with NACE for sour service.  The hardness restrictions for sour service conditions are now measured in the vickers range for full penetration procedure qualifications.  This is due to the dimension of the HRC indentor not being able to accurately measure the hardness of the HAZ.
I unfortunately do not have the specification with me at present as i have changed companies recently to quote the exact Hv restriction.
HRC is still used in qualifications of overlays though.

Gunther
Up Topic Welding Industry / Technical Discussions / does it need PWHT

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