A case study on failure of superheater tubes in an industrial power plant

A failure analysis investigation was carried out on the secondary Superheater tubes of a boiler unit in a steam power plant. The tubes, made of DIN-16CrMo4 steel, failed by bulging and rupture only after about three years of operation. Metallurgical investigations revealed that microstructural degradation had mainly occurred at the external (fireside) tube surface. Longterm overheating was identified as the root cause of the premature failure.