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

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
• /
• 2005.10c
• /
• pp.50-52
• /
• 2005

In this paper, the analysis of the eddy current testing(ECT) signals under thc Influence of the ferromagnetic support plate was performed in steam generator(SG) tube of nuclear power plant. In order to remove the influence of the ferromagnetic support plate, a multi-frequency ECT was used. The models which was established for the analysis of the signals is calculated using numerical analysis of finite element method. Through the result of numerical analysis, improved signals is acquired considering the influence of the ferromagnetic support plate using mixing of multi-frequency This paper is presented the residual errors and the phase changes for analysis of the defect signals which should be considered when conducting a ECT using multi-frequency.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.50-56
• /
• 2008

The tubes in heat exchanger are typically made of 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 be found in low-pressure(LP) feedwater heaters and moisture separator reheaters(MSRs) in turbine system. 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 O.D(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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Magnestics Society Conference
• /
• 2005.12a
• /
• pp.40-42
• /
• 2005

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.201-208
• /
• 2005

In this paper, absolute and differential eddy current signals from various defects in the steam generator tube are numerically predicted and their signal slope characteristics are investigated. The signal changes due to frequency increase are also observed. After studying signal patterns from various defects and frequencies, the analysis of mixed defect signals affected by the presence of a ferromagnetic support plate is attempted. For the signal prediction, axisymmetric finite element modeling is used and this leads us to the slope angle analysis of the signal. Results show that differential signals are useful for locating the position of a defect under the support plate, while absolute signals are easy to presume and interpret even though the effect of support plate is mixed. Combined use of these two types of signals will help us accomplish a more reliable inspection.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.407-415
• /
• 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 Magnetics
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.453-456
• /
• 2011

Demagnetization for a tube sample which was made of a galvanized steel sheet was performed by applying a magnetic field with a decrement to remove the remanent magnetization of the material. An orthogonal fluxgate magnetic field sensor was used to measure a magnetic field created from a ferromagnetic material. To evaluate the remanent magnetization, the measured magnetic fields were separated into two magnetic field components by the remnant magnetization and the induced one. The horizontal and the vertical bias fields should be controlled separately during demagnetization to remove the horizontal and the vertical components of the remanent magnetization of the tube sample.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.21 no.5
• /
• pp.518-525
• /
• 2001

As steam generator (SG) tubes have aged, new and subtle flaws have appeared. Most of them start growing from outside the tubes. Since signals from outer diameter (OD) defects are very weak compared to those from inner diameter (ID) defects in the conventional eddy current testing due to skin effect, this paper studies the feasibility of using remote field eddy current (RFEC) technique, which has shown equal sensitivity to ID and OD defects in the ferromagnetic pipe inspection. Finite element modeling studies show that the operating frequency needs to be increased up to a few hundred kHz in order for RFEC effects to occur in the nonmagnetic SG tube. The proper distance between exciter and sensor coils is also found to be about 1.5 OD, which is half the distance used in the ferromagnetic pipe inspection. Defect signals obtained by the designed RFEC probe show equal sensitivity to ID and OD defects and the existence of linear relationship between defect depth and phase signal strength. These results tell us that RFEC inspection is feasible even in nonmagnetic steam generator tubes.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.356-363
• /
• 2003

An eddy current testing system was developed for detection of flaws in the ferromagnetic steel tubes. Because the eddy current signals from the ferromagnetic steel tubes could be distorted easily due to an irregularity of magnetic permeability, magnetic saturation is required to suppress this variation of magnetic fields. A magnetic saturation probe with the Hemholtz coil was designed for the inspection of the steel tubes. The bandwidth pass filters were adapted to minimize the noise from the DC magnetization. When using the designed test probe, the flaw signals could be discriminated from the noise. The system was tested at the production line and showed a capability of detecting flaws, like a drilled hole of the diameter of 2.0mm at the moving speed of 1m/sec.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.293-298
• /
• 2013

In this study, an HP-mod. type(KHR-45A), which is used as a heater tube material in the pyrolysis process, was evaluated for its carburizing properties. It was confirmed from the microstructural observation of the tubes that the volume fraction of carbide increased and that the coarsening of Cr-carbide generated as a degree of carburization increased. The depth of the hardened layer, which is similar to the thickness of the carburized region of each specimen, due to carburization is confirmed by measurement of the micro-Vickers hardness of the cross section tube, which thickness is similar to that of the carburized region of each specimen. Two types of chromium carbides were identified from the EBSD (electron back-scattered diffraction) image and the EDS (energy-dispersive spectroscopy) analysis: Cr-rich $M_{23}C_6$ in the outer region and Cr-rich $M_7C_3$ in the inner region of tubes. The EDS analysis revealed a correlation between the ferromagnetic behavior of the tubes and the chromium depletion in the matrix. The chromium depletion in the austenite matrix is the main cause of the magnetization of the carburized tube. The method used currently for the measurement of the carburization of the tubes is confirmed; carburizing evaluation is useful for magnetic flux density measurement. The volume fraction of the carbide increased as the measuring point moved into the carburized side; this was determined from the calculation of the volume fraction in the cross-section image of the tubes. These results are similar to the trends of carburization measurement when those trends were evaluated by measurement of the magnetic flux density.