| 2025 №12 (06) |
DOI of Article 10.37434/tpwj2025.12.07 |
2025 №12 (01) |
The Paton Welding Journal, 2025, #12, 49-54 pages
Investigation of the causes of damage to the water-wall tubes of the boiler cooler for converter gases
S.O. Osadchuk, L.I. Nyrkova, L.V. Goncharenko
E.O. Paton Electric Welding Institute of the NASU. 11 Kazymyr Malevych Str., 03150, Kyiv, Ukraine. E-mail: lnyrkova@gmail.comAbstract
The water-wall tubes of the boiler cooler for converter gases, which were damaged after five years of operation, have been examined. Optical microscopy revealed that corrosion damages in the form of cracks, oriented perpendicularly to the tube axis on the inner surface, propagated through intergranular corrosion along the boundaries of ferritic and pearlitic components. It was found that steam-water corrosion processes occurred on the inner surface of the tube, following the reaction of 3Fe + 4H2O = Fe3O4 + 4H2 with hydrogen release, leading to the formation of small ulcers that developed into cracks due to the loss of integrity of the protective layer under operational thermal loads and mechanical stresses in local areas. The main cause of damage to the water-wall tubes is steam-water corrosion.
Keywords: carbon steel, water-wall tubes, boiler cooler, inner corrosion, steam-water corrosion
Received: 29.05.2025
Received in revised form: 18.08.2025
Accepted: 24.11.2025
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