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Title: Final Report: Guided Acoustic Wave Monitoring of Corrosion in Recovery Boiler Tubing

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/15015952· OSTI ID:15015952

Corrosion of tubing used in black-liquor recovery boilers is a major concern in all pulp and paper mills. Extensive corrosion in recovery boiler tubes can result in a significant safety and environmental hazard. Considerable plant resources are expended to inspect recovery boiler tubing. Currently, visual and ultrasonic inspections are primarily used during the annual maintenance shutdown to monitor corrosion rates and cracking of tubing. This Department of Energy, Office of Industrial Technologies project is developing guided acoustic waves for use on recovery boiler tubing. The feature of this acoustic technique is its cost-effectiveness in inspecting long lengths of tubes from a single inspection point. A piezoelectric or electromagnetic transducer induces guided waves into the tubes. The transducer detects fireside defects from the cold side or fireside of the tube. Cracking and thinning on recovery boiler tubes have been detected with this technique in both laboratory and field applications. This technique appears very promising for recovery boiler tube application, potentially expediting annual inspection of tube integrity.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
US Department of Energy (US)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
15015952
Report Number(s):
UCRL-TR-211263; TRN: US200509%%464
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: 31 Mar 2005
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English