Failure analysis of boiler cold and hot reheater tubes

An analysis was made on the failure and shut down of boiler cold and hot reheater tubes by chemical analysis of sediments, metallographic examinations, XRD, SEM and EDX studies. The mode of operation, maintenance, and feed water chemistry were also checked. It is concluded that the bad maintenance and feed water chemistry are the main causes of the failure, leading to various types of corrosion mechanisms, which are identified and discussed in this study.