Development of a New Class of Fe-3Cr-W(V)Ferritic STeels for Industrial Process Applications
The project described in this report dealt with improving the materials performance and fabrication for hydrotreating reactor vessels, heat recovery systems, and other components for the petroleum and chemical industries. The petroleum and chemical industries use reactor vessels that can approach ship weights of approximately 300 tons with vessel wall thicknesses of 3-8 in. These vessels are typically fabricated from Fe-Cr-Mo steels with chromium ranging from 1.25 to 12% and molybdenum from 1 to 2%. Steels in this composition range have great advantages of high thermal conductivity, low thermal expansion, low cost, and good properties obtainable by heat treatment. With all of the advantages of Fe-Cr-Mo steels, several issues are faced in design and fabrication of vessels and related components. These issues include the following: 1. The low strengths of current alloys require thicker sections. 2. Increased thickness causes heat-treatment issues related to nonuniformity across the thickness and thus a failure to achieve optimum properties. 3. Fracture toughness (ductile-to-brittle transition) is a critical safety issue for these vessels, especially in thick sections because of the nonuniformity of the microstructure. 4. The postweld heat treatment (PWHT) needed after welding makes fabrication more timeconsuming with increased cost. 5. PWHT needed after welding also limits any modifications of the large vessels in service. The goal of this project was to reduce the weight of large-pressure-vessel components (ranging from 100 to 300 tons) by approximately 25%, reduce fabrication cost, and improve in-service modification feasibility through development of Fe-3Cr-W(V) steels with a combination of nearly a 50% higher strength, a lower ductile-brittle transition temperature (DBTT), a higher upper-shelf energy, ease of heat treating, and a strong potential for not requiring PWHT.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 838517
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL/TM-2005/82; TRN: US200802%%1208
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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