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End of November 2005 strong south-west wind and heavy snowfall were predominant in the region Münsterland, north-western part of Germany. This led to accretion of a considerable quantity of wet snow to overhead electrical lines in form of snow rolls on the conductors. Eighty-two transmission towers failed catastrophically, most of them by buckling, however some by brittle fracture. As a consequence nearly 250,000 people have been cut off from electrical power supply for several days with major media attention.
This paper describes the forensic analysis in order to investigate the failure cause. Therefore extensive materials investigations, mechanical testing of original components and specimens thereof, estimations for the real wind and snow loads and their combinations, structural analyses as well as detailed evaluations on the basis of previous investigations, literature and regulations were conducted. It was revealed that some of the examined components were manufactured from Thomas steel which was partially in embrittled condition. The investigated towers fulfilled the design codes valid at the time of erection. However the present line loads of the wet snow rolls on the conductors exceeded by far the ones given in the design codes valid at that time.
The load case leading to failure was reconstructed by the derived positions of loads mainly caused by unequal and asymmetric distribution of snow rolls on left and right electrical system. The loads and corresponding stresses acting on the structure before failure were estimated. By comparison with the fracture forces from mechanical testing of original members of the collapsed tower the component that primarily failed was localised. The primary fracture occurred on a diagonal member under tension made of Thomas steel which was weakened by embrittlement. The failure cause was a combination of heavy weather conditions (storm, approx. 0 °C and wet snowfall leading to heavy snow rolls on conductors), asymmetric loading conditions and the usage of Thomas steel which was partially embrittled. Finally, recommendations for avoiding future failures are given.
Basic research on the corrosive effect of flue gases has been performed at the BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (Germany). Conditions at both high and low temperatures were simulated in specially designed experiments. Carburization occured in flue gases with high CO2 content and temperatures higher than 500 °C. In SO2 containing flue gases sulphur was detected in the oxide scale. At lower temperatures no corrosion was observed when gases with low humidity were investigated. Humidity higher than 1500 ppm was corrosive and all steels with Cr contents lower than 12% revealed corroded surfaces. At low temperatures below 10 °C a mixture of sulphuric and nitric acid condensed on metal surfaces. Acid condensation caused severe corrosion. Humidity, CO2, O2, and SO2 contents are the important factors determining corrosion. Below 300 °C acid condensation is the primary reason for corrosion. Low humidity and low temperatures are conditions which can be expected in the CO2 separation and treatment process. This work includes major conditions of the flue gas and CO2 stream in CCS plants and CCS technology.
The process chain for Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) includes tubing for injection of CO2 into saline aquifers. The compressed CO2 is likely to contain specific impurities; small concentrations of SO2 and NO2 in combination with oxygen and humidity are most harmful. In addition, CO2 saturated brine is supposed to rise in the well when the injection process is interrupted. The material selection has to ensure that neither CO2 nor brine or a combination of both will leak out of the inner tubing. In this comprehensive paper the investigated materials range from low-alloy steels and 13% Cr steels up to high-alloy materials. Electrochemical tests as well as long term exposure tests were performed in CO2, in brine and combination of both; pressure was up to 100 bar, temperature up to 60 °C. Whereas the CO2 stream itself can be handled using low alloy steels, combinations of CO2 and brine require more resistant materials to control the strong tendency to pitting corrosion. The corrosion behavior of heat-treated steels depends on factors such as microstructure and carbon content. For different sections of the injection tube, appropriate materials should be used to guarantee safety and consider cost effectiveness.
In July 2008 an ICE3 high speed train rated for 330 km/h service speed derailed during departure from Cologne, Central Station, Germany, due to fatigue failure of one of the driving axles. The train was emergency stopped immediately and, due to low travel speed at this point, no serious injuries occurred to passengers. Referring to public interest, the public attorneys office solicited the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) for the analysis of the root cause.
No deviations from specification were found in the geometries of the basic parts of the bogie or the wheelset assembly. Inspection of the axle fragments using standard acoustic non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques revealed no additional cracks and no indications of oversized discontinuities. Metallographic and chemical inspection of the axle material and its microstructure revealed all parameters to be acceptable except for an elevated impurity level.
The fracture surfaces of the axle fragments were heavily damaged due to some continued travel after final breakage on the high speed line before Cologne Central Station. Extensive visual inspection of the remaining beachmarks was carried out to find the origin of the fatigue crack. The region of the crack origin was located near the axle surface but could not be analysed in detail due to secondary damage. Fatigue was identified as the mechanism of crack growth until final fracture, but the reasons for crack initiation initially remained unclear.
Neither standard NDT techniques nor metallography according to the relevant axle specifications were able to identify inclusions in the material that could have served as crack initiation sites. However, discontinuities were detected near the crack origin in micro computer tomography and ultrasonic immersion testing. Subsequent metallographic sample preparation was targeted to specific areas based on the location coordinates of the flaws identified by these NDT techniques. These revealed non-metallic inclusions that were much larger than admissible for the relevant specifications. It is likely that the fatigue crack in the highly loaded axle volume initiated at those non-metallic inclusions.
Condensates from the gas stream in simulated CO2 transport pipelines have been identified during the experiments in the laboratory. Because of their acidic origin the corrosion resistance of pipeline steels used for CCS (carbon capture and storage) technology might be limited. Over the last years it has become clear that the amount of water and acid building constituents in the CO2 stream has to be controlled very well. In this work, condensates formed in experiments using gaseous CO2 containing high amounts of water, NO2 and SO2 were analyzed, replicated, and used for extensive electrochemical experiments. These highly acidic condensates were enriched with CO2 and then applied to characteristic steels planned to use in the CCS transport chain. Even high alloy steels are susceptible to localized corrosion under these conditions. The results implicate that condensation of aggressive acid droplets has to be avoided or the locations where condensation takes place have to be controlled extensively.
Unexpected wind-induced vibrations of the hangers have caused an early fatigue crack on specific steel components and joints of a railway bridge over the Elbe River at Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany. During regular periodic inspection a fatigue crack of approximately 240 mm length was found near a butt weld of the longest hanger. The hanger was immediately secured by welded butt straps across the crack. Based on experimental investigations of hanger vibrations additional bracings were added between the hangers to avoid wind-induced vibrations. The weld heat influence zone which was affected by high cyclic stresses was replaced by new material.
Nevertheless it was impossible to determine sufficient remaining service life for those remaining bridge components that were exposed to extreme high real load cycles. The grinding of the affected steel surfaces was the key element of the remedial actions. Furthermore, additional fracture mechanic calculations were carried out in order to assess the remaining service life of the welded joints. In this respect, the calculation approach used by Deutsche Bahn AG was compared to further procedures from the mechanical engineering field. These investigations showed that the studied, repaired components have both, bearing and fatigue capacities within the validity of standards.
Investigations on the breakdown of a heat recovery steam generator during the initial operation run
(2014)
Several years ago, in 2003, an industrial heat recovery steam generator in charge of generating process steam in a petrochemical refinery was installed and prepared for initial operation. The steam generator enclosed an evaporator section and a superheater section consisting mainly of bundles of tubes with the longest up to several metres in length. During initial operation test runs severe leakages in the evaporator and superheater modules became noticeable. The test runs were stopped and after disassembly, through-wall cracks in several tube bends were found. BAM was commissioned to carry out the investigations in order to find out the reasons for the failure of the tubes. During on-site inspection a number of relevant damaged components and parts were selected and taken away to the laboratories for detailed inspection. Planned analyses were to comprise metallographic as well as fractographic investigations, mechanical fatigue testing and experimental as well as finite element vibration analyses on specimens and components. Soon, the fracture mechanism was found to be mechanical fatigue due to the fact that the examined fracture surfaces showed the very characteristic beachmarks and colouring patterns. To identify the particular loading and time at which crack initiation and crack propagation took place, experimental and numerical vibration analyses of specific tubes as well as mechanical fatigue tests on tube bends were carried out. Thus it was possible to identify the eigenfrequencies of individual tubes, to estimate the dynamic response as well as the nominal stresses and, hence, experimentally characterise the in-service fatigue strength of the components. Mechanical and thermal comparative tests on tube bends were performed simulating the conditions during the initial test run in order to get crack surfaces comparable to that of the originally damaged components. Thereby it became obvious that the fatigue cracks were initiated by vibrations the tube bundles were exposed to during rail transport from the manufacturers site to the place of installation. Based on these results, the damaged components could be repaired or exchanged without modification of the construction, but the rules relating packaging and securing for shipping had to be revised.
On October 24th 1950 the 'Freedom Bell' rung for the first time in the tower of the former West Berlin town hall. One year after the Berlin blockade and at a first climax of the 'Cold War', the 'American National Committee for a Free Europe' donated the bell to the city of West Berlin. The bronze bell has a weight of about 10 tons. Its clapper has a length of 2.40 m and a weight of nearly 1 ton. In 1966 the hanging of the clapper and in 1979 the clapper of the bell broke down. Both failures were found to be caused by fatigue fracture. In 1974, a crack in the bell body was detected. After years of periodic monitoring using non-destructive testing, the crack was closed in 2001.
The 100th anniversary of the death of Adolf Martens will be commemorated on July 24th, 2014. He is eponymously remembered today through the term martensite, which was first used by Floris Osmond as a name for the metastable phase that results from rapid quenching of carbon steels. Born in 1850 near to Hagenow in the region Mecklenburg, Germany, Martens was one of the pioneers of materials engineering in 19th century Europe.
Martens began his career working for the Prussian Eastern Railway before joining the Royal Industrial Academy in Berlin in 1880. In 1884, he was appointed director of the Royal Mechanical Experimental Station, a small institution associated to the academy. Failure analysis was continuously practiced at this institution, which became later the nucleus of the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), for the 110 years since. The history of Martens will be dealt with in an in-depth article in this special issue.
Since the 19th century, failure analysis techniques have been refined, and new methods of chemical analysis and non-destructive testing have been developed; however, the basic approach to failure analysis has not changed much since Martens' days. The basic tenets of failure analysis remain things like on-site inspection, extensive visual 'non-destructive' inspection, developing an understanding of the background story, performing materials testing, and 'connecting the dots.' Martens introduced and developed experimental techniques like macro photography, fractography, metallography, hardness measurements, and mechanical testing. Modern failure analysts continue adding even more techniques to this list, leading to a more interdisciplinary approach which many would say is the only way to find the root causes of complex failure events.
The present special issue of EFA presents an overview of more than 100 years of failure analysis at BAM and its predecessors, closing the circle from the beginnings of modern failure analysis done by Martens himself in the 1890s to its present-day application.
This special issue starts with an excursion back to Martens' work and innovations and presents a newly translated original manuscript of Martens from 1890. Whereas some papers of Martens and his co-workers are well documented, only little can be found about failure analysis in the period from 1914 to the 1950s. Most documents of this period have not survived until today. Beginning in the 1960s more and more significant works are preserved, which were using the interdisciplinary approach of Martens. Since the beginning of the digital age in the 1980s almost all text documents are accessible, whereas digital images were stored since the 1990s. Since then the problem is no longer accessibility but copyright issues that prevent many interesting case studies from being published. Maybe the next generation of failure scientists can reveal some of them later on.
CO2 streams captured from power stations or industrial plants may contain impurities that impact the consecutive steps of the CO2 capture and storage (CCS) chain. As the basis for an optimization of CO2 purity over the whole CCS chain, impacts of different impurities were investigated at key steps including studies on (i) corrosion of metallic materials in CO2 streams and brine, (ii) fluid and interfacial properties as a function of pressure, temperature and CO2 stream composition and their implications for CO2 transport, injection and geological storage, (iii) costs of different pipeline design options, (iv) geochemical alterations at typical reservoir conditions and their implications for geomechanical rock properties. Major findings are synthesized for two exemplary single source-single sink CCS chain scenarios involving CO2 stream compositions typical for pre-combustion capture and oxyfuel combustion. Recommendations for material selection for compression, transport and injection were derived for various CO2 stream compositions. To reliably control corrosion, a limitation of water contents to 50 ppmv is recommended for pipeline transportation of all CO2 streams. At geological storage conditions, the presence of either O2, NOx or SO2 only weakly affected fluid-mineral/rock interactions that still impacted geomechanical rock properties.
The round robin test investigated the reliability users can expect for AlSi10Mg additive manufactured specimens by laser powder bed fusion through examining powder quality, process parameter, microstructure defects, strength and fatigue. Besides for one outlier, expected static material properties could be found. Optical microstructure inspection was beneficial to determine true porosity and porosity types to explain the occurring scatter in properties. Fractographic analyses reveal that the fatigue crack propagation starts at the rough as-built surface for all specimens. Statistical analysis of the scatter in fatigue using statistical derived safety factors concludes that at a stress of 36.87 MPa the fatigue limit of 107 cycles could be reached for all specimen with a survival probability of 99.999 %.
In the current study, the 3D nature of the melt pool boundaries (MPBs) in a 316 L austenitic steel additively manufactured by laser-based powder bed fusion (L-PBF) is investigated. The change of the cell growth direction and its relationship to the MPBs is investigated by transmission electron microscopy. A hitherto unreported modulated substructure with a periodicity of 21 nm is further discovered within the cell cores of the cellular substructure, which results from a partial transformation of the austenite, which is induced by a Ga+ focused ion beam. While the cell cores show the modulated substructure, cell boundaries do not. The diffraction pattern of the modulated substructure is exploited to show a thickness ≥200 nm for the MPB. At MPBs, the cell walls are suppressed, leading to continuously connecting cell cores across the MPB. This continuous MPB is described either as overlapping regions of cells of different growing directions when a new melt pool solidifies or as a narrow planar growth preceding the new melt pool.
To set up recommendations on how to define “reasonable minimum composition thresholds” for CO2 streams to access CO2 pipeline networks, we investigated potential impacts of CO2 streams with different and temporally variable compositions and mass flow rates along the CCS chain. All investigations were based on a generic “CCS cluster scenario” in which CO2 streams captured from a spatial cluster of eleven emitters (seven fossil-fired power plants, two cement plants, one refinery and one steel mill) are collected in a regional pipeline network. The resulting CO2 stream (19.78 Mio t impure CO2 per year) is transported in a trunk line (onshore and offshore) and injected into five generic replicate storage structures (Buntsandstein saline aquifers) offshore. Experimental investigations and modeling of selected impacts revealed beneficial as well as adverse impacts of different impurities and their combinations. Overall, no fundamental technical obstacles for transporting, injecting and storing CO2 streams of the considered variable compositions and mass flow rates were observed. We recommend to define minimum composition thresholds for each specific CCS project through limiting
i) the overall CO2 content,
ii) maximum contents of relevant impurities or elements,
iii) acceptable variability of concentrations of critical impurities, and defining impurity combinations to be avoided.
A global transition towards more sustainable, affordable and reliable energy systems is being stimulated by the Paris Agreement and the United Nation's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This poses a challenge for the corrosion industry, as building climate‐resilient energy systems and infrastructures brings with it a long‐term direction, so as a result the long‐term behaviour of structural materials (mainly metals and alloys) becomes a major prospect. With this in mind “Corrosion Challenges Towards a Sustainable Society” presents a series of cases showing the importance of corrosion protection of metals and alloys in the development of energy production to further understand the science of corrosion, and bring the need for research and the consequences of corrosion into public and political focus. This includes emphasis on the limitation of greenhouse gas emissions, on the lifetime of infrastructures, implants, cultural heritage artefacts, and a variety of other topics.
Early Stage of Corrosion Formation on Pipeline Steel X70 Under Oxyfuel Atmosphere at Low Temperature
(2020)
The early stage of corrosion formation on X70 pipeline steel under oxyfuel atmosphere was investigated by applying a simulated gas mixture (CO2 containing 6700 ppmv O2, 100 ppmv NO2, 70 ppmv SO2 and 50 ppmv H2O) for 15 h at 278 K and ambient pressure. Short-term tests (6 h) revealed that the corrosion starts as local spots related to grinding marks progressing by time and moisture until a closed layer was formed. Acid droplets (pH 1.5), generated in the gas atmosphere, containing a mixture of H2SO4 and HNO3, were identified as corrosion starters. After 15 h of exposure, corrosion products were mainly X-ray amorphous and only partially crystalline. In-situ energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction (EDXRD) results showed that the crystalline fractions consist primarily of water-bearing iron sulfates. Applying Raman spectroscopy, water-bearing iron nitrates were detected as subordinated phases. Supplementary long-term tests exhibited a significant increase in the crystalline fraction and formation of additional water-bearing iron sulfates. All phases of the corrosion layer were intergrown in a nanocrystalline network. In addition, numerous globular structures have been detected above the corrosion layer, which were identified as hydrated iron sulphate and hematite. As a type of corrosion, shallow pit formation was identified, and the corrosion rate was about 0.1 mma−1. In addition to in-situ EDXRD, SEM/EDS, TEM, Raman spectroscopy and interferometry were used to chemically and microstructurally analyze the corrosion products.
Die klassische Metallographie basiert auf Abbildungen einzelner Schliffebenen und kann auf räumliche Formen und Anordnungen des Gefüges nur bedingt schließen. Die Idee, aus metallographischen Serienschliffen dreidimensionale Gefügestrukturen zu rekonstruieren, ist daher naheliegend und nicht neu. Allerdings ist der Aufwand, in Handarbeit viele Einzel-Schliffe zu präparieren und zu Bildstapeln zusammenzusetzen, sehr hoch und steht einer häufigen Anwendung entgegen.
Deshalb wird an der BAM ein Roboter-gestütztes 3D-Metallographie-System entwickelt, das an einer Schliffprobe die Schritte Präparation und Bildeinzug vollautomatisch mit vielen Wiederholungen ausführt. Die Präparation umfasst Schleifen, Polieren und optional Ätzen der Schlifffläche, der Bildeinzug autofokussierte lichtmikroskopische Aufnahmen bei mehreren Vergrößerungsstufen. Der erhaltene Bildstapel wird anschließend vorverarbeitet, segmentiert und in ein 3D-Modell umgesetzt, das einer mikrotomographischen Aufnahme ähnelt, allerdings mit besserer lateraler Auflösung bei großem Volumen. Im Gegensatz zu tomographischen Verfahren besteht die Möglichkeit der Kontrastierung durch klassische chemische Ätzung. Die Integration eines REMs ist geplant. Bislang durchgeführte Arbeiten verdeutlichen die Möglichkeiten der Darstellung von Heißgas-Korrosionsschichten, Grauguss-Werkstoffen und Keramik-basierten mikroelektronischen Strukturen (Vias).
Fatigue failure of a component can occur at service loads considerably lower than the yield strength of the material. Under fatigue loading condition, the material in the vicinity of the tip of a propagating crack repeatedly deforms plastically, leaving microscopic marks on the crack surface, commonly known as fatigue striations. Counting and measuring fatigue striations is a method in estimating the number of loading cycles a component went through until fracture. Some studies suggest a one-to-one relation between the number of fatigue striations and the number of load cycles, but this relation is still debatable, given that there are many factors influencing the formation of those striations. The main purpose of this work is to analyze the influence of microstructure and mechanical strength on the formation of fatigue striations in structural steels, in order to understand how these material properties are related to the fatigue crack behavior. For such, standard Charpy-V samples were subjected to hardness, fatigue and impact testing. Metallography was performed to characterize the microstructure, and a fractographic analysis by using optical and scanning electron microscopy was carried out to investigate the fracture surface. This study shows that steels with higher ductility have a closer one-to-one relation than those with a higher tensile strength. Above a certain level of tensile strength, fatigue striations do form rarely or completely disappear.
For reliability and safety issues of injection wells, corrosion resistance of materials used needs to be determined. Herein, representative low-cost materials, including carbon steel X70/1.8977 and low alloyed steel 1.7225, were embedded in mortar to mimic the realistic casing-mortar interface. Two types of cement were investigated: (1) Dyckerhoff Variodur commercial Portland cement, representing a highly acidic resistant cement and (2) Wollastonite, which can react with CO2 and become stable under a CO2 stream due to the carbonation process. Exposure tests were performed under 10 MPa and at 333 K in artificial aquifer fluid for up to 20 weeks, revealing crevice corrosion and uniform corrosion instead of expected pitting corrosion. To clarify the role of cement, simulated pore water was made by dispersing cement powder in aquifer fluid and used as a solution to expose steels. Surface analysis, accompanied by element mapping on exposed specimens and their crosssections, was carried out to trace the chloride intrusion and corrosion process that followed.
To study the effects of condensed acid liquid, hereafter referred to as condensate, on the CO2 transport pipeline steels, gas mixtures containing a varying concentration of H2O, O2, NO2, and SO2, were proposed and resulted in the condensate containing H2SO4 and HNO3 with the pH ranging from 0.5 to 2.5. By exposing the pipeline steel to the synthetic condensate with different concentration of acidic components, the corrosion kinetic is significantly changed. Reaction kinetic was studied using electrochemical methods coupled with water analysis and compared with surface analysis (scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray diffractometry (XRD)) of corroded coupons. The results showed that, although the condensation of NO2 in the form of HNO3 causes faster general corrosion rate, it is the condensation of SO2 in the form of H2SO4 or the combination of SO2 and NO2 that may cause much more severe problems in the form of localized and pitting corrosions. The resulting corrosion forms were depended on the chemical nature of acids and their concentration at the same investigated pH. The effects of changing CO2 flow rate and renewing condensate on pitting corrosion were further studied.
This third part of the review on defects as root cause of fatigue failure addresses cavities (pores, micro-shrinkages, unmelted regions), defective microstructures and microcracks as material defects and defects due to local damage during manufacturing, service and maintenance such as dents, scratches and localized corrosion. In addition, damage due to contact fatigue and the effect of surface roughness are discussed in the context of fatigue failure. Also addressed is the competition between different kinds of defects in controlling the initiation and early growth of fatigue cracks.
According to the definition of the ASM handbook [1,3], a defect is "an imperfection. that can be shown to cause failure by a quantitative analysis and that would not have occurred in the absence of the imperfection". The topic of the present three-part review is a discussion of defects which can cause failure in cyclically loaded structures. The features discussed comprise material defects such as non-metallic inclusions, pores or micro-shrinkages, etc. and geometric defects such as surface roughness and secondary notches which have their origin in manufacturing, and defects such as surface damage due to scratches, impact events or contact fatigue as well as corrosion pits which arise in service. In this first part, the discussion is prefaced by an introduction to basic aspects which are essential for a deeper understanding of the characteristics and mechanisms how the defects influence fatigue crack initiation and propagation. These include the life cycle of a fatigue crack from initiation up to fracture, crack arrest, multiple crack initiation and coalescence, and the material and geometrical properties affecting these.
Defects as a root cause of fatigue failure of metallic components. II: Non-metallic inclusions
(2019)
This second part of the review on defects as root cause of fatigue failure comprises the origin, the nature and the effects of non-metallic inclusions. Topics addressed are the different kinds of inclusions formed during the manufacturing process, various types of mis-match causing local stresses and, as a consequence, fatigue crack initiation, and effects of characteristics such as size, morphology, localization, spatial distribution and orientation of the defects on the fatigue behavior. Methods for inclusion counting and sizing are discussed along with statistical aspects necessary to be considered when evaluating structural components.
In failure analysis, micro-fractographic analysis of fracture surfaces is usually performed based on practical knowledge which is gained from available studies, own comparative tests, from the literature, as well as online databases. Based on comparisons with already existing images, fracture mechanisms are determined qualitatively. These images are mostly two-dimensional and obtained by light optical and scanning electron imaging techniques. So far, quantitative assessments have been limited to macrocopically determined percentages of fracture types or to the manual measurement of fatigue striations, for example. Recently, more and more approaches relying on computer algorithms have been taken, with algorithms capable of finding and classifying differently structured fracture characteristics. For the Industrial Collective Research (Industrielle Gemeinschaftsforschung, IGF) project “iFrakto” presented in this paper, electron-optical images are obtained, from which topographic information is calculated. This topographic information is analyzed together with the conventional 2D images. Analytical algorithms and deep learning are used to analyze and evaluate fracture characteristics and are linked to information from a fractography database. The most important aim is to provide software aiding in the application of fractography for failure analysis. This paper will present some first results of the project.
The research focus of this study was set on the corrosion process of condensate as droplets on the surface of carbon steels (X52, X70) martensitic steel UNS S41500, and super austenite UNS N08031 in CO2 atmosphere with impurities at 278 K (to simulate the offshore transportation condition in a buried pipeline). The possibility of dew/droplet formation on the steel surface and wetting behavior of corresponding materials were evaluated by contact angle measurement in dense CO2 at 278 K. To observe the effect of impurities (SO2 and O2) on droplet corrosion process, exposure tests were carried out in the mixed atmosphere with a drop, 1 ‑ 10 µL in volume, of CO2 saturated ultra-pure water on steel surface. Comparable exposure tests were carried out with the same gas mixture and the same volume of water, as vapor, to observe the droplet formation and the corrosion process that follows. Effects of surface roughness on the droplet formation and its corrosion process were further studied and showed no significant role upon long time exposure. The results from droplet experiments were compared to those from the bulk electrolyte for the further recommendation on the quality control of gas stream along with the use of carbon steels as transport pipelines in CCS - Carbon Capture and Storage system.
Die AG Fraktographie im DVM/DGM-Gemeinschaftsgremium „Elektronenmikroskopie in der Materialforschung“ betreibt seit 2013 eine fraktographische online-Datenbank („FractoDB“), die für das interessierte Fachpublikum kostenfrei zur Verfügung steht. Die Analyse und Bewertung von Bruchflächen und der darauf befindlichen Bruchmerkmale ist ein wichtiger Teilaspekt der Schadensanalyse bei der Suche nach Schadensmechanismen und Schadensursachen. Risse und Brüche an realen Bauteilen können nur dann bewertet werden, wenn gut dokumentierte Vergleichsbrüche aus Laborversuchen zur Verfügung stehen, sei es an Proben oder an Vergleichs-Bauteilen. Daher trägt die AG Fraktographie Bildmaterial zusammen, führt systematisch Laborversuche und Ringversuche durch und analysiert Brüche aus Schadensfällen. Die gewonnenen Daten werden zu Datensätzen zusammengestellt und über die Datenbank zugänglich gemacht. Derzeit ist ein Bestand von über 400 Datensätzen mit insgesamt über 4.500 Bildern verfügbar, welcher durchsucht werden kann und in Anlehnung an die VDI 3822 organisiert ist. Weitere Aktivitäten der AG Fraktographie, die in der FractoDB abgebildet werden, sind u.a. die Entwicklung einer fraktographischen Symbolik und die Analyse von Bruchmerkmalen mittels Machine Learning. Über die aktuellen Ergebnisse und Planungen wird berichtet.
Fractography plays a critical role in failure analysis of engineering components and has a considerable importance for safety investigations. Usually, the interpretation of fracture surfaces is done by experts with the help of literature and experimental data, that requires a lot of experience. The use of deep learning (DL) with neural networks in failure analysis becomes more and more relevant with the rapidly developing possibilities. Especially, the modern network architectures can assist fractographers in determining various fracture features on SEM images of the fracture surfaces. The basis for the best possible evaluation is the understanding of the influence of the input data used for training deep neural networks (DNN). Therefore, this study discusses the influence of the selection of the input data used for the prediction quality of these networks in order to take this into account for future data acquisition. Specimens of various metallic materials were subjected to fatigue cracking experiment under laboratory conditions. The fractured surfaces were then imaged using various modes or detectors (such as SE, BSE and topography) in SEM, and those captured images were used to create a training data set. The relevance of the individual data for the quality of the prediction is determined by a specific combination of the different detector data. For the training, the well-established architecture of a UNet-ResNet34 with a fixed set of hyperparameters is used. It has been found in this present study that the combination of all input data significantly increases the prediction accuracy, whereby even the combination of SE and BSE data provides considerable advantages over the exclusive use of SE images.
A titanium (Ti-6242) matrix composite reinforced with continuous SiC fibers was studied. The mechanical behavior of the matrix and the composite was characterized by tensile, creep and isothermal fatigue tests at room temperature and up to 550°C. The thermo-mechanical fatigue behavior under in-phase and out-of-phase conditions was investigated for the composite between 100 and 550°C. Fracture surfaces were characterized by confocal light microscopy and by scanning electron microscopy to identify the damage mechanisms.
Undetected and undesired microstructural variations in components produced by laser powder bed fusion are a major challenge, especially for safety-critical components. In this study, an in-depth analysis of the microstructural features of 316L specimens produced by laser powder bed fusion at different levels of volumetric energy density and different levels of inter layer time is reported. The study has been conducted on specimens with an application relevant build height
(>100 mm). Furthermore, the evolution of the intrinsic preheating temperature during the build-up of specimens was monitored using a thermographic in-situ monitoring set-up. By applying recently determined emissivity values of 316L powder layers, real temperatures could be quantified. Heat accumulation led to preheating temperatures of up to about 600 °C. Significant differences in the preheating temperatures were discussed with respect to the individual process parameter combinations, including the build height. A strong effect of the inter layer time on the heat accumulation was observed. A shorter inter layer time resulted in an increase of the preheating temperature by more than a factor of 2 in the upper part of the specimens compared to longer inter layer times. This, in turn, resulted in heterogeneity of the microstructure and differences in material properties within individual specimens. The resulting differences in the microstructure were analyzed using electron back scatter diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Results from chemical analysis as well as electron back scatter diffraction measurements indicated stable conditions in terms of chemical alloy composition and austenite phase content for the used set of parameter combinations. However, an increase of the average grain size by more than a factor of 2.5 could be revealed within individual specimens. Additionally, differences in feature size of the solidification cellular substructure were examined and a trend of increasing cell sizes was observed. This trend was attributed to differences in solidification rate and thermal gradients induced by differences in scanning velocity and preheating temperature. A change of the thermal history due to intrinsic preheating could be identified as the main cause of this heterogeneity. It was induced by critical combinations of the energy input and differences in heat transfer conditions by variations of the inter layer time. The microstructural variations were directly correlated to differences in hardness.