• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.407-415
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• 2008

The tubes in heat exchanger are typically made from copper alloy, stainless steel, carbon steel, titanium alloy material. type-439 ferritic stainless steel is ferromagnetic material, and furnish higher heat transfer rates than austenitic stainless steels and higher resistance to corrosion-induced flaws. Ferritic stainless steel can typically be found in low-pressure(LP) feedwater heaters and moisture separator reheaters(MSRs). LP feedwater heaters generally utilize thin wall type-439 stainless steel tubing, whereas MSRs typically employ a heavier wall tubing with integral fins. Service-induced damage can occur on the OD(outside diameter) surface of type-439 ferritic stainless steel tubing which is employed for MSRs tubing, and the most typical damage mechanism is vibration-induced tube-to-TSP(tube support plate) wear and fatigue cracking. The wear has been reported that occurs mainly on the OD surface. Accordingly, in this study, we have evaluated the flaw sizing capability of magnetic saturation eddy current technique using magnetic saturation probe and flawed specimen.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.339-345
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• 2008

The heat exchanger tube in nuclear power plants is mainly fabricated from nonferromagnetic material such as a copper, titanium, and inconel alloy, but the moisture separator & reheater tube in the turbine system is fabricated from ferromagnetic material such as a carbon steel or ferrite stainless steel which has a good mechanical properties in harsh environments of high pressure and temperature. Especially, the moisture separator & reheater tubes, which use steam as a heat transfer media, typically employ a tubing with integral fins to furnish higher heat transfer rates. The ferromagnetic tube typically shows superior properties in high pressure and temperature environments than a nonferromagnetic material, but can make a trouble during the normal operation of power plants because the ferrous tube has service-induced damage forms including a steam cutting, erosion, mechanical wear, stress corrosion cracking, etc. Therefore, nondestructive examination is periodically performed to evaluate the tube integrity. Now, the remote field testing(RFT) technique is one of the solution for examination of ferromagnetic tube because the conventional eddy current technique typically can not be applied to ferromagnetic tube such as a ferrite stainless steel due to the high electrical permeability of ferrous tube. In this study, we have designed RFT probes, calibration standards, artificial flaw specimen, and probe pusher-puller necessary for field application, and have successfully carry out RFT examination of the moisture separator & reheater tube of nuclear power plants.