Integrity Evaluation and Root Cause Analysis of Cracks at the Volute Tongue of Centrifugal Pump

원심펌프 벌류트 혀의 균열 원인분석 및 건전성 평가

This paper provides integrity evaluation and root cause analysis for defects observed at volute tongue, or cutwater, of the operating centrifugal pump in power plant. The cause of the cracks are analyzed and reviewed from the viewpoint of the operation and maintenance of the pumps, and the sample obtained from the cracked volute tongue of the pump are examined. At first, in-situ hardness test and microstructure examination were performed to understand the cause of cracking at volute tongue. The evaluation of structural integrity and the possibility of the crack propagation is also evaluated. Cracks were typical intergranular cracking and propagated along with prior austenite grain boundary. At easing volute tongue, the hardness was higher than ASTM requirement and a large amount of intergranular Cr carbide was precipitated. These were due to high C content in material. P content was also higher than ASTM requirement. Therefore, Cr carbide precipitation and P segregation at grain boundary, caused by higher C and P content in material, resulted in intergranular cracking of casing volute tongue. This procedure for integrity evaluation and root cause analysis is used to guide, and support the pump designer and manufacturer's material selection and process design to avoid a costly, unplanned outage of plant.