Failure Analysis on High Temperature Reheater Tube of T23 Steel in a 660MW Thermal Power Plant Boiler

Abstract

The cause of the failure of high temperature reheater tube of T23 Steel in 600MW supercritical unit of a power plant was analysed by visual examination, chemical analysis, microstructural examination, and mechanical property test (at room temperature). The results showed that the cause of reheater tube failure was a long-term overheating over 570 °C (in the furnace), which led to its mechanical properties to decrease, resulting in the tube burst with the longitudinal crack ruptures.