Basic Points:

Oxidation Limit : Each material has its own Oxidation limit after which it
starts scaling.
Stainless Steel has is better than CSEF steels but it still not used in the
Super Critical Boilers because it has poor thermal Conductivity and Cost is
also high. For boiler grade materials thermal conductivity should be high.
Also Stainless Steel has poor resistance to thermal expansion as compared
to CSEF steels. So the material might get affected very soon.
Thermal conductivity in inversely proportional to thermal expansion.
For P91, Both 9015 and 9018-B9 can be used for welding but 9015 cannot
be used in all position whereas 9018-B9 can be used in all positions for
welding.
For Gr91/92, materials whose p number is lower than or equal to 4 should
be avoided.
Residua Stress in only in the Weld Metal and not in the Base Metal.
If the impact of raw material is lower than Final fabricated structure then
the component is subjected to improper heat treatment.
Creep Resistant material service temperature should be 454C.
For a Supercritical boiler, Drum is replaced by Separator.
Separator has a service temperature of 372C. For this service temperature
Alstom is using G91 (22mm) while Hubin China is using Gr 22. (80 mm).
This is solely because of the manufacturers policy. Since using Gr91 will
lower the thickness and hence weight of the component and size also
reduces. Also manufacturability as compared to Gr22 is easy.
Soaking Time: Soaking Time is given for the material to undergo uniform
temperature. Basically during tempering, the carbides have to be
dissolved in the matrix. This transformation requires time. Thus soaking
time is always given.
For Stainless Steel, PWTH or preheating is not required this is because
austenite is formed at room temperature. But because of Strain and Grain
Resizing Solution HT is given.
Sensitization: This is a very important and Deletorius effect in this Cr gets
converted to Carbides. Thus CrC are formed along the grain boundary in
the temperature range of 420 -870 C which are then susceptible to
intergranular corrosion. Thus we quench immediately to pass this
range.Several methods have been used to control or minimize the
intergranular corrosion of susceptible alloys like a high-temperature
solution heat treatment, commonly termed solution-annealing, quenchannealing or solution-quenching, has been used. The alloy is heated to a
temperature of about 1,060 to 1,120C and then water quenched. This
method is generally unsuitable for treating large assemblies, and also
ineffective where welding is subsequently used for making repairs or for
attaching other structures. Another control technique for preventing
intergranular corrosion involves incorporating strong carbide formers or

stabilizing elements such as niobium or titanium in the stainless steels.

Such elements have a much greater affinity for carbon than does
chromium; carbide formation with these elements reduces the carbon
available in the alloy for formation of chromium carbides. Such a stabilized
titanium-bearing austenitic chromium-nickel-copper stainless steel is
shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,562,781. Or the stainless steel may initially be
reduced in carbon content below 0.03 percent so that insufficient carbon is
provided for carbide formation. These techniques are expensive and only
partially effective since sensitization may occur with time. The low-carbon
steels also frequently exhibit lower strengths at high temperatures

PFI : Pipe Fabrication Institute: This is a standard which comprises of

practices followed by great companies.
Before HT to Grade 91 materials, Impact Loading and Moisture are the 2
enemies and should be properly taken care of. Moisture leads to hydrogen
Embrittlement and Stress Corrosion Cracking.
Stress + Corrosion = Cracking, thus Heat Treatment is prescribed
immediately.
Any kind of wet testing is not recommended is not recommended
on Gr91 before HT.
Hot Correction is allowed only after tempering. This hot correction is also
not to exceed above AC1 temperature. Suppose there is some mistake in
tempering and the temperature rises above 850C then Normalizing and
tempering is prescribed.
To verify the Heat Treatment, Insitu microstructure and hardness is tested.
If the hardness is between 181-265 Hv then tempering is proper. Is it is
below 181 then the component has some softer ferrite and it has to go
undergo N&T. Above 265 Hv means the material should be subjected to
tempering again.
Usually lower hardness value are not mentioned. But for Gr 91, it is
mentioned. This is because Tensile Strength is related to hardness, and the
measure of the proper tensile strength which in this case is 80 000psi is
181 Hv. Thus it shud be above that value. All this is because Gr 91
undergoes multiple HT.
Equitop hardness works only for pipes as it works on rebound principle and
not for tubes.
Resistance Heating is not preferred for P/T 91 : The basic principle of
resistance heating is that heating takes place through conductivity. This
conductivity is based on materials thermal conductivity. We know that
thermal conductivity of T91<P22, therefore if the thickness is less than
22mm then Resistance Heating can be used where the I 2R is in the coil
while if the thickness more then Inductance heating can be ued where I 2R
is in the material and not in the coil.
Recrystalliation temperature of Gr91 steels is 705 C. Above hot working,
below cold working.

Tempering for Grade 91:

When fabricating Grade 91/92 components, various heat treatments may be
needed, if not performed properly they can result in significant serviceability
concerns like Improper normalizing, Inter critical heating, Over tempering, Under
tempering. Both Normalizing & tempering is required in the shop if the
post weld heat treatment has exceeded the lower critical temperature.
Due to such problems furnace uniformity is required and control over the
temperature is very important resulting in more than one T/C!

Problems during Tempering:

Temperatures too low
Inadequate time
Slow cooling from normalizing
Heating above A1
Slow cool low hardness (<180
HV)

Overtemper

Under Tempering

Good Hardness, poor creep strength

Incomplete solutionization of carbides
Soft ferrite structure
Very poor creep strength
Quick cool(Refer Fig) increase in hardness
Un tempered martensite
May not detect
Ferrite structure
Poor creep strength in either case
Potential low hardness starting material
Multiple PWHT required for complex
components
Low creep strength if hardness too low
The hardness will not be reduced sufficiently
increasing risk of brittle fracture and stress
corrosion cracking.
The creep strength of the material will not be
fully developed.

Till the heat treatment of Normalizing and tempering is completed, the

components shall be free from any of the following.
Impact loads
Spot thermal loads (spot heating)
Shall not come in contact with moisture(like water or lubricants
used for UT or hardness).
No hardness testing which provides indenter load.
No welding shall be carried out
It shall not exceed the hardness limits of the base material specification (181Hv
-265Hv). If the hardness observed is above than the base material specification,
it shall be re-tempered to bring down the hardness within the acceptable limit. If
the hardness observed is below than the base material specification, it shall be
re-normalized and re-tempered to bring down the hardness within the acceptable
limit.