Effect of materials selection and design on the performance of an engineering product – An example from petrochemical industry

This paper demonstrates the effect of materials selection and design on the performance of engineering products, with the help of two case studies. In each case, the process constituted production of Hydrogen (H2) gas by cracking of methane (CH4) using a catalytic steam reformer. The failed component was outlet manifold pipe of the steam reformer. In the first case, a heat-resistant steel casting grade HP + Nb was used while wrought INCOLOY alloy 800H tubing was employed in the second case. Dimensions of the pipe varied in each case depending on the type of material used. This variation in material and design resulted in significant difference in service performance such that the pipe in case 1 failed after only 22,000 h of service while that in case 2 remained in operation for 83,000 h.