Material Engineering Services
Introduction
OGM/Capstone's materials engineering consulting services produce timely and practical solutions to customer problems. World-class consultants and state of the art equipment are provided, including a full service failure analysis laboratory. Emphasis is placed on working with plant personnel so that root causes are identified.
Details:
Some of our services are outlined below:
- Failure Analysis is performed to determine the root cause. With this information, repair or replacement recommendations can be developed. Also, future failures can be avoided in similar equipment by developing modified inspection plans or by changing equipment design. By taking advantage of this service, improved safety and increased reliability will be realized.
- Metallurgical Laboratory services provide material testing and evaluations to support both in house and client failure analysis. The full service laboratory is staffed with multi-skilled technicians who work closely with Capstone and client engineers. A wide range of sample preparation and metallographic evaluation techniques are available including the use of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive spectroscope (EDS) able to detect light elements. The SEM has a large stage allowing evaluation of samples up to 5” in diameter.
- Field Metallography and Replication (FMR) is a technique used to take the laboratory to the field. It can be used to evaluate surface connected flaws found by magnetic particle or dye penetrant inspection. FMR can assist in determining whether the flaw is a manufacturing defect or an active service-induced crack. FMR can be used to detect microscopic creep damage, incipient stress corrosion cracking, and non-destructive confirmation for high temperature hydrogen attack. FMR can be performed in the field in a temperature range from -20°F to 150°F. Incident Investigation and Litigation Support services are also available to support our clients. Equipment failure, high potential incident, and plant accident investigation are typical examples of these services.
- Fire Damage Assessment services can determine whether a fire structurally damaged equipment. Visual inspection, hardness testing, FMR and other testing techniques are used. If damage is found, a fitness-for-service evaluation can be made based on the results of the initial assessment.
- Repair Procedure Development is a strength at Capstone. Both temporary and permanent repairs have been designed. Sometimes the repair is mechanical in nature, but at other times Welding Procedures are required. Welding on service-damaged equipment is not a simple process because there are many embrittling mechanisms as well as sources of contamination. These factors must be dealt with to achieve a successful repair.
- Fitness-for-Service is the process of evaluating in-service flaws in equipment to determine if the equipment is safe for continued operation. It can include:
- Remaining Life assessments for equipment such as heaters and high temperature vessels,
- Crack assessments using methodologies such as Critical Flaw Size evaluations, and
- Evaluation of Locally Thinned Areas in vessels and piping.
- Evaluations incorporate industry guidelines such as PD 6493 and the API 579. Scoop SamplerSM supports Capstone's Fitness-for-Service program by providing sample materials for impact, creep, and tensile testing to confirm material properties. These tests are extremely valuable when existing data is insufficient for engineering analysis or lower bound values cause the analysis to be too conservative. The Scoop SamplerSM was developed to remove sufficient materials for test coupons while not requiring weld repair or causing huge stress concentrations like conventional boat samples. Samples can be removed from both base metal and welds and requires no welding to the surface. For pressure vessels and storage tanks, the samples can often be removed during normal operations so that expensive down time can be avoided.
- Inspection Planning services can optimize the inspection methods, intervals and extents, as well as maximize the value of those inspections. The first step is to identify the likely damage mechanisms. This is done by using a combination of plant and industry experience to anticipate the types of damage as well as where the damage is most likely to occur. Capstone has expertise in non-destructive evaluation and risk based inspection, and this experience can be used to optimize the inspection planning.
- Overall costs can often be reduced by performing some inspections on-stream. This gives needed information prior to shut down, and allows any required replacement components to be prefabricated. Turn-around "surprises" are subsequently reduced.
- Vessel Evaluations can be provided to plants who have purchased used equipment often find themselves without proper vessel documentation. Vessel evaluations can be performed to determine and document that a vessel complies with current codes and standards. Re-rating of vessels can also be conducted when operating conditions change.
- Field Strain Gage Testing services are performed to measure actual operating stresses. When a failure analysis indicates that either high or low fatigue was the mode of failure, additional steps should be taken to determine the root cause. Strain gages have been used to identify such causes as resonant operating speeds and critical flow rates.
- Sometimes the true cause of the high stresses cannot be directly correlated with observed damage. For this reason, critical operating parameters can be monitored along with the strain gages. For example, coke drums are monitored with gages mounted at drum bulges while recording the quench operations. Strain gages have also been used to assess integrity of heavily blistered vessels. Gages have been installed in the field under a variety of service environments, including temperature ranges from 20°F to 900°F.
- Materials Training Programs are offered to plant personnel, allowing them to continue to develop their skills. Courses such as Welding and Metallurgy for the Plant Technician and Understanding Process Corrosion are offered. These courses can be modified to meet plant needs.
