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Case Study: The Failure Analysis of Pipe ASTM A351 HK-40 in Reaction Plant
Unit

Article in Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention · May 2020

DOI: 10.1007/s11668-020-00885-y

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J Fail. Anal. and Preven.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-020-00885-y

CASE HISTORY—PEER-REVIEWED

Case Study: The Failure Analysis of Pipe ASTM A351 HK-40

in Reaction Plant Unit
F. Yushandiana . H. Setiana . E. Pujiyulianto

Submitted: 3 April 2020 / in revised form: 10 May 2020

Ó ASM International 2020

Abstract The failure of pipe ASTM A351 HK-40 in Keywords ASTM A351 HK-40  Reaction plant unit 
reaction plant unit has been reported. The failure occurs Sulfide corrosion  Erosion  Leakage
after 1.5 years in service. The present investigation aims to
analyze the main cause of the failure by conducting a
standard failure analysis test including chemical composi- Introduction
tion test, visual examination, microstructure examination
by optical microscope and scanning electron microscope– The process in the reaction plant unit is the converting of
energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM–EDS), x-ray fluid fuels into heat energy through heating reactions
diffraction, hardness Vickers and stress calculation. The assisted by a catalyst in a reactor. The function of the
sulfide corrosion, leakage and erosion were found at the reaction plant unit is to transfer the combustion fluid and
bottom of the longitudinal pipe ASTM A351 HK-40. The natural gas to another unit that is used as an energy source
results of this investigation suggest that the causes of in the industry. In the reaction plant unit, there is an
failure are the high content of the sulfide in the reactant, important part to support the work system such as the
and the high-temperature process up to 650 °C will ASTM A351 HK-40 pipe. ASTM A351 HK-40 pipe is a
potentially rapid the corrosion, the fluid flow and fluid pipe that is installed as a piping system in the reaction plant
phases will erode the surface of the pipe and form the leak unit that serves the fluid flow by changing the flow direc-
on the surface, and the formation of the sigma phase in the tion, the pressure and the temperature. As shown in
material. Thus, the other material used is suggested such as Table 1, the flowing fluid in ASTM A351 HK-40 pipe
ASTM A351 HP which has higher corrosion resistance and consists of H2S(g), CS2(g), CH4(g), etc. and the fluid tem-
heat resistance. perature reaches up to 650 °C. The high-temperature
process will be prone to corrosion, especially high-tem-
perature corrosion. Mostly, the corrosion in the reaction
F. Yushandiana  E. Pujiyulianto (&) plant unit often occurs in the ASTM A351 HK-40 pipe, so
Metallurgical Engineering, Department of Mining Engineering, the failure of the ASTM A351 HK-40 pipe is faster than the
Faculty of Mineral Technology, Universitas Pembangunan
Nasional ‘‘Veteran’’ Yogyakarta (UPNVY), Yogyakarta 55283, planned lifetime design. In this case, the leakage occurred
Indonesia after 1.5 years in service where the planned lifetime design
e-mail: ekopuji39@gmail.com is 2 years.
F. Yushandiana ASTM A351 HK-40 pipe is heat-resisting alloy steel,
e-mail: frideni_gf@yahoo.com and it is a kind of austenitic stainless steel with the main
alloying elements are iron–chromium–nickel [1]. Accord-
F. Yushandiana  H. Setiana  E. Pujiyulianto
Metallurgical Research and Development Centre (MRDC), ing to the ASTM standard [2], the initial word ‘H’ indicates
Universitas Pembangunan Nasional ‘‘Veteran’’ Yogyakarta that the type of material is heat-resisting alloy steel, and the
(UPNVY), Yogyakarta 55283, Indonesia second letter A until Y indicates the content of chromium
H. Setiana and nickel. ASTM A351 HK-40 steel is widely used in oil
e-mail: henhensetiana13@gmail.com

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Table 1 Technical information of the process Table 2 Chemical compositions

Material ASTM A351 HK-40 ASTM standard of A351 Before service After failure
Element HK40 [1] (%) (%)
Unit Reaction plant unit
Temperature 650 °C C 0.35–0.45% 0.44 0.777
Pressure 6 Bar Mn 1.50% 1.35 0.507
Reactant CH4, S2, H2S, CS2 Si 1.75% 1.42 0.838
Reactant content (%) CH4 = 9.38 P 0.040% 0.027 0.0363
S2 = 25 S 0.040% 0.005 0.0718
H2S = 43.75 Ni 19–22% 20.68 17.6
CS2 = 21.87 Cr 23–27% 24.28 29.3
Reaction CH4 (l) ? 2S2 (s) ! CS2 Mo 0.50% 0.32 0.251
(g) ? 2H2S (g) Fe Balance 51.478 49.3
Product CS2 (g) and 2H2S (g)

Thickness 16 mm
Minimum thickness 6.7 mm

and gas, thermal power, petrochemical industry [3] and

furnace component [4]. ASTM A 351 has many kinds of an
alloy such as HF (20Cr–10Ni), HK (25Cr–20Ni) and HH
(26Cr–12Ni). All of the classifications are regarded as their
composition and application.
This investigation aims to know and to analyze the
cause of failure of the ASTM A351 HK-40 pipe in the
reaction plant unit so that it can provide the corrective
action to prevent the failure in future. This investigation is
carried out by considering the technical information of the Fig. 1 The leakage from the outer surface of the ASTM A351 HK-40
pipe
process, conducting the visual examination, the
microstructure examination, the chemical composition and
Result
the XRD test.
Chemical Composition
Experimental
Table 2 shows the standard of chemical composition as per
the ASTM standard [1], the chemical composition before
The failed ASTM A351 HK-40 pipe was examined by a
service and the chemical composition after failure. Table 2
spectrometer (Poly Spek Neo Spectrometer, England) and
shows that the Cr after failure is 29.3%, and before service
EDS (Hitachi SU3500, Japan) for the chemical analysis.
is 24.28%. The Cr increases after a failure if compared to
The chemical analysis results were compared to the stan-
the Cr content before service, and the Cr content after
dard chemical composition of the material. The microscope
failure exceeds the maximum standard of Cr content as per
optic (Olympus, Japan) and the SEM (Hitachi SU3500,
ASTM standard which is 23–27%. The Ni content after
Japan) were used to know the phases and the microstruc-
failure is 17.6%, and before service is 20.68%. The Ni
ture of the material, the XRD test (Olympus, Japan) was
content decreases after failure, and the Ni content exceeds
used to analyze the compound that is formed on the cor-
the minimum limit of Ni content as per ASTM standard
rosion product, and the hardness Vickers test was also
which is 19–22%. The other element that is increasing the
conducted (Mitutoyo HM-200, Japan).
chemical composition content after failure is C. The C after
failure is 0.777%, while the C before service is 0.44%, and
0.35–0.45% is per ASTM standard.

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Fig. 4 Longitudinal surface view on leakage location on ASTM

A351 HK-40 pipe

Fig. 2 The leakage from the inner surface of the ASTM A351 HK-40
pipe

Fig. 5 The thickness change along the longitudinal position on the

ASTM A351 HK-40 pipe from the reference point (0.0)

Fig. 3 Leakage length on the ASTM A351 HK-40 pipe

Visual Examination

Figures 1 and 2 show the leakage on the failed pipe that is

formed on the surface of the pipe. Figures 1 and 2 show the
leakage from the outer and from the inner surfaces of
ASTM A351 HK-40 pipe, respectively, and Fig. 3 shows
the measurement method of the leakage where the length of
the leakage is about 33.45 mm. From Fig. 2, it can be seen
that the inner surface of the pipe is corroded and eroded
(black arrow). To ensure the erosion of the thickness on the
inner surface of the pipe, then the pipe is cut along the
longitudinal side, and the cut pipe is shown in Fig. 4.
Figure 4 shows that the thickness of the pipe seems is Fig. 6 The microstructure of the ASTM A351 HK-40 pipe for the top
location with 1000 9 magnification
changed longitudinally. The erosion occurs due to the flow
of fluid and the phase of the fluid which consists of the
liquid, gas and solid as detailed in Table 1.
The thickness change along the longitudinal side in about 33.4 mm. Figure 5 shows that the thickness of the
Fig. 4 is measured, and the result is shown in Fig. 5. The pipe is changed longitudinally. As per technical informa-
leakage occurs at the position of 100 mm from the refer- tion that the initial thickness of the pipe is 16 mm, and the
ence point of 0.0 mm, and the length of the leakage is minimum allowable thickness is 6.7 mm.

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Fig. 7 The microstructure of the ASTM A351 HK-40 pipe for the
bottom location with 1000 9 magnification

Microstructure Examination

As shown in Fig. 2, the pipe is cut from the top and the
bottom location for examining the microstructure and the
hardness of the pipe.
Figures 6 and 7 show the microstructure of ASTM A351
HK-40 pipe by microscope optic for the top and the bottom
location, respectively. The microstructure test in Figs. 6
and 7 shows that the phases for the top and the bottom
specimen location are austenite, carbide and sigma phase.
Figures 8 and 9 show the SEM and EDM results on the
ASTM A351 HK-40 pipe, respectively. The SEM results
show that the phases are austenite, carbide and sigma phase
which has the same result as in Figs. 6 and 7. The EDS
result shows that the Cr content is 21.19%, Mn is 1.12%,
Fe is 37.89% and Ni is 14.80%.

Corrosion Analysis

Figure 10 shows the corrosion product that is taken from

the inner surface of the pipe. The corrosion product was
examined by XRD, and the XRD result is shown in Fig. 11.
Figure 11 shows the corrosion compound that is formed
in the corrosion product. The result shows that the formed
corrosion compounds are 32.3% of FeS, 27.6% of CrS,
26.2% of NiS and 13.3% of Si2S. Most of the corrosion
compounds are in the form of sulfide corrosion due to the
fluid that consists of the sulfide compounds, i.e., H2S(g),
CS2(g), etc.
Figures 12 and 13 show the thickness of the corrosion Fig. 8 SEM image on ASTM A351 HK-40 pipe with magnification
of (a) 250 9 , (b) 500 9 and (c) 10009
layer for the top and the bottom surface of the specimen,
respectively. In Figs. 12 and 13, the interface between the each location is shown in Fig. 14. The corrosion thickness
base metal and the corrosion layers can be seen clearly. for the top location is 53.58 lm, and for the bottom loca-
Quantitatively, the average corrosion layer thickness for tion is 78.42 lm.

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Fig. 11 XRD results in corrosion products

Fig. 9 EDS result on ASTM A351 HK-40 pipe

Fig. 12 The thickness of the corrosion layer on ASTM A351 HK-40

pipe for the top specimen

Fig. 10 Corrosion product of ASTM A351 HK-40 pipe

Hardness Examination

Figure 15 shows the hardness of the ASTM A351 HK-40

pipe before service and after failure. The hardness after
failure is harder than the hardness before service. The
hardness after failure is 258.41 HVN for the top location
and 289.4 HVN for the bottom location, and 175 HVN is
before service. The hardness increases after failure due to Fig. 13 The thickness of the corrosion layer on ASTM A351 HK-40
the presence of the sigma phase in the material which is pipe for bottom specimen
brittle and hard.

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Fig. 16 The thickness vs. stress generated on the wall of the pipe
ASTM A351 HK-40
Fig. 14 The thickness of the corrosion layer
addition, the presence of the sigma phase which is brittle
and hard will accelerate the failure of the pipe.

Discussion

ASTM A351 HK-40 is a heat-resisting cast alloy or is a

kind of austenitic stainless steel for high-temperature
application due to the presence of Cr25Ni20 [1]. The
results of the chemical composition show that the Cr after
failure is 29.3%, and before service is 24.28%. The Cr
increases after a failure if compared to the Cr content
before service, and the Cr content after failure exceeds the
maximum standard of Cr content as per ASTM standard
which is 23–27%. The Ni content after failure is 17.6%,
and before service is 20.68%. The Ni content decreases
after failure, and the Ni content exceeds the minimum limit
Fig. 15 The hardness of ASTM A351 HK-40 pipe of Ni content as per ASTM standard which is 19–22%. The
other element that is increasing of the chemical composi-
Stress Calculation tion content after failure is C. The C after failure is 0.777%,
while the C before service is 0.44%, and 0.35–0.45% is per
Figure 16 shows the effect of the thickness change on the ASTM standard. The change of Cr and Ni content occurs in
stress that is generated on the wall of the pipe. Equation 1 the pipe after failure. The Cr element in the ASTM A351
is used to know the stress for each thickness [5]. HK-40 increases the oxidation resistance, high-temperature
PD resistance, creep strength [7] and also acts as a strong
r¼ ðEq 1Þ carbide former, and the Ni acts as an austenite former and
2t
increases the fracture toughness of material [7].
where r is stress, P is pressure, D is outer diameter and t is The chemical compositions before service and after
the thickness of the pipe. failure are projected into a ternary diagram to determine
Figure 16 shows that the highest stress is located in the and to predict the phases that are formed in the material at
thinnest location of the pipe which is close to the leakage. 650 °C. The results of the projection are shown in Fig. 17.
The thin wall of the pipe will potentially become the In Fig. 17 ( ) as a before service condition, the intersecting
leakage if the surface of the wall pipe continues to erode. In line shows that the phases in the material are sigma phase
and gamma austenite with the composition of Fe is

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Usually, the carbide that is formed is in the form of M23C6

[3, 4, 8]. M is a Cr or might be the other metals like Fe, Mo
or Ni that act as the carbide former. In the high carbon
content, the material will be prone to the formation of the
carbide. Table 2 shows that the C content increases after
failure and the high carbon content will cause the carbon to
exceed the solubility limit, so it causes the formation of
carbide and will continue to grow to be a coarse carbide
[8].
The high-temperature process, reaching up to 650 °C,
will make the material becomes more sensitive, so the
carbide and sigma phase will grow [3, 8]. The phase that
will be formed after the formation of carbide is the sigma
phase as can be seen in Figs. 6, 7, and 8 [9]. In Figs. 6, 7
and 8. The sigma phase is formed in the grain boundary
between the carbide and the austenite, so it indicates that
the sigma phase is formed after the formation of carbide as
Fig. 17 Ternary diagram of Fe–Cr-Ni at 650 °C [6]: ( ) before stated by Ref. [9]. The sigma phase is brittle and hard, so it
service, ( ) after failure, ( ) EDS result will reduce the toughness of the material, and it also
decreases the corrosion resistance of the material. There-
51.478%, Cr is 24.28% and Ni is 20.68%. After failure, the fore, the formation of the sigma phase is avoided. The
projection is obtained from the intersecting line ( ). The standard hardness of ASTM A351 HK-40 is 175 HVN
phases that are formed in the material are also sigma phase, because the presence of the sigma phase than the hardness
and gamma austenite with the composition of Fe is 49.3%, increases up to 258.41 HVN.
Cr is 29.3% and Ni is 17.6%. Although they have the same Figure 2 shows that the inner surface of the pipe is
phases, they have different chemical compositions. The corroded and eroded that will cause a change in the
result from EDS is shown in Fig. 9. The elements of Cr, thickness of the pipe. The initial thickness of the pipe is
Mn, Ni and Fe are identified. The result of the projection 16 mm, and the minimum allowable thickness is 6.7 mm.
for EDS ( ) shows that the phases are gamma austenite Figures 4 and 5 show the significant change in thickness to
with Fe is 37.89%, Cr is 21.19%, Ni is 14.80%, and the which the pipe has leaked longitudinally. The change in the
sigma phase does not occur. The formation of the sigma thickness will cause the change in the stress generated on
phase depends on the composition of the alloying elements, the wall of the pipe as stated in Eq 1. Figure 16 shows that
for instance, the Mo, Cr and Si can promote the formation the highest stress is located in the thinnest location of the
of sigma phase [4]. According to the projection in the pipe which is close to the leakage. The thin wall of the pipe
ternary diagram. The differences between the phases that will potentially become the leakage if the surface of the
are formed for each condition are caused by differences in wall pipe continues to erode. Figure 16 shows the corre-
the chemical composition. The result of the chemical lation between the stress and the thickness in a certain
composition by using EDS only produces the gamma position of the pipe. When the thickness of the pipe is
austenite when the chemical composition is projected. The 16 mm as the normal thickness, the stress on the pipe is
reason might be the EDS test only spotting the austenite 3.2802 MPa, so the stress is still safe when comparing to
phase on the material, so the chemical composition is only the maximum yield strength as per the ASTM standard that
for the chemical composition of the austenite. is 240 MPa. The stress at the thinnest point about 0.25 mm
Metallographic test in Figs. 6 and 7 by optical micro- is approximately 209.786 MPa which is closer to the
scope, and Fig. 8 by SEM shows that the phases of the maximum standard of yield strength as per ASTM stan-
material are austenite, carbide and sigma phase. Basically, dard. The thinnest wall pipe is occurred due to the erosion.
the phases of ASTM A351 HK-40 material are austenite The erosion occurs due to the flow of fluid and the phase of
with a small amount of carbide. After being used in high the fluid which consists of the liquid, gas and solid as
temperatures up to 650 °C. The precipitation and the aging detailed in Table 1. In addition, the environment is corro-
process occur, so the phase will transform [4, 8]. At sive due to the presence of the sulfide at high temperature
650 °C, the precipitate grows in the grain boundary and up to 650 °C.
some in the grain; moreover, the most susceptible site is in Figures 12 and 13 show the thickness of the corrosion
the grain boundary [3]. As shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8, the layer on the inner surface of the pipe. The interface
carbide is formed in the grain boundary of the austenite. between the base metal and the corrosion layer can be seen

123
 J Fail. Anal. and Preven.

clearly. Quantitatively, the average thickness of the cor- References

rosion layer is stated in Fig. 14. The corrosion thickness for
the top location is 53.58 lm and the bottom location is 1. Designation: ASTM A351/A351M-05-Standard Specification for
Castings, Austenitic, for Pressure-Containing Parts (ASTM
78.42 lm. International, United States, 2005)
Figure 11 shows the XRD curve for corrosion products. 2. Designation: ASTM A781/A781M-18C-Standard Specification for
The identified corrosion products are FeS 32.3%, CrS Castings, Steel and Alloy, Common Requirements, for General
27.6%, NiS 26.2% and Si2S 13.3%. All of the products are Industrial Use (ASTM International, United States, 2018)
3. A.M. Babakr, A. Al-Ahmari, K. Al-Jumayiah, F. Habiby, Sigma
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reactant and the high-temperature process up to 650 °C as (Fe-Cr-Ni) alloys. J. Mineral. Mater. Charact. Eng. 7(2), 127–145
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selecting the materials with higher Cr-Ni alloys like ASTM pressure vessels. Modern. Mech. Eng. 5, 1–9 (2015)
A351 HP Cr26Ni35 which has the higher heat resistance 6. G.V. Raynor, V.G. Rivlin, Phase Equilibria in Iron Ternary
Alloys in ASM Metal Hanbook Volume 3: Alloy Phase Diagrams
and corrosion resistance than ASTM A351 HK-40. (The Institute of Metals, London, 1988)
7. R.L. Plaut, C. Herrera, D.M. Escriba, P.R. Rios, A.F. Padilha, A
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8. M.L. Saucedo-Muñoz, A. Ortiz-Mariscal, V.M. Lopez-Hirata,
This investigation can be concluded that the main causes of J.D. Villegas-Cardenas, O. Soriano-Vargas, E.O. Avila-Davila,
the failure are: Precipitation analysis of as-cast HK40 steel after isothermal
aging. Int. J. Mineral. Metall. Mater. 24(10), 1125–1134 (2017)
1. The high content of the sulfide in the reactant causes 9. H.S. Khatak, B. Raj, Corrosion of Austenitic Stainless Steel:
the corrosion in the form of sulfide corrosion, and the Mechanism, Mitigation, and Monitoring (Woodhead Publishing
high temperature up to 600 °C will potentially rapid Ltd., Sawston, 2002)
10. A.A. Vostrikov, O.N. Fedyaeva, A.V. Shishkin, M.Y. Sokol,
the corrosion namely sulfide corrosion. Oxidation of hydrogen sulfide and corrosion of stainless steel in
2. The leakage formed on the ASTM A351 HK-40 pipe is gas mixtures containing H2S, O2, H2O, and CO2. J. Eng. Ther-
due to the erosion. The erosion occurs due to the flow mophys. 26(3), 314–324 (2017)
of fluid and the phase of the fluid which consists of the 11. E.B. Backensto, R.D. Drew, C.C. Staplford, High temperature
hydrogen sulfide corrosion. Corrosion 12(1), 22–32 (1956)
liquid, gas and solid.
3. The formation of the sigma phase on the material will Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to
deteriorate the mechanical properties and corrosion jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
resistance of the ASTM A351 HK-40 pipe.
4. Material ASTM A351 HP is suggested to use which
has higher corrosion resistance and heat resistance than
ASTM A351 HK-40.

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