Engineering Failure Analysis 12 (2005) 527536

www.elsevier.com/locate/engfailanal

Fatigue and brittle fracture of carbon steel process pipeline

Aiju Li
a

a,b,*

, Weiqiang Wang c, Xueming Wang

a,b

, Dong Zhao

c,d

Key Laboratory for Liquid Structure and Heredity of Materials of Education Ministry, Shandong University, Jinan 250061,
Shandong, PR China
b
School of Material Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, Shandong, PR China
c
School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, Shandong, PR China
d
School of Mechanical Engineering, Jinan University, Jinan 250022, Shandong, PR China
Available online 11 November 2004

Abstract
The fracture of a low carbon steel high pressure pipeline used in an ammonia synthesis system was investigated using
fractography metallography, mechanical property testing, and nite element analysis. The fracture initiated as a thermal fatigue crack followed by, brittle fracture caused by strain aging of the pipe steel.

2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Keywords: Thermal fatigue; Strain ageing; Pipeline failures; Chemical-plant failures; Impact energy

1. Introduction
Low carbon steels are widely used as structural materials because of their good manufacturability, large
ductility, high toughness and moderate strength. Low carbon steel with 0.20 wt% carbon is widely used in
pressure pipelines, even at high pressure. However, strain aging and brittle fracture often taken place in this
kind of steel as a result of the processing not being controlled strictly during fabrication or the operating
conditions exceeding loading capacity during the service period. KenIchi [1] studied the initiation of brittle
fracture associated with the strain localization in the heat-aected-zone (HAZ) of low carbon steel and
pointed out that the inhomogeneous microstructure in the HAZ gave rising to intense strain localization
due to the constraint of plastic deformation and might produce accumulated defects that form an incipient
crack for brittle fracture. Li Ling [2] analyzed the conditions to produce strain aging in cold-rolled steels.
Zhao Jiuzhou [3] proposed a model to describe the strain aging of low carbon steels based on theoretical
analysis.
*

Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +86 531 294 0969.

E-mail address: liaiju57@sina.com (A.J. Li).

1350-6307/$ - see front matter
2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.engfailanal.2004.10.003

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A.J. Li et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 12 (2005) 527536

The fractured pipeline (U127 21 mm) is made of steel 20 (a common low carbon steel used in China),
which connects an ammonia synthesis tower and a cooling device in an ammonia synthesis plant. Fig. 1 is a
sketch of the pipeline. The operating conditions of the pipeline are 40 C and 19 MPa with the medium of

Fig. 1. Sketch of the pipeline between ammonia synthesis tower and cooling device. (a) Sketch of the pipeline between ammonia
synthesis tower and cooling device. (b) Finite element meshes of the cooling pipeline.

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Fig. 2. Fractograph of elbow a.

(N2 + 3H3). The pipeline was used for about two years. In the process, the operation of the ammonia synthesis tower was stopped and heat was preserved for almost 30 h. The medium in the pipeline was not owing during thermal preservation. As a result the temperature of the synthesis tower wall gradually rose up to
a temperature which was higher than that of the pipe wall. When the synthesis tower operated normally, the
highest temperature of the tower wall was 210 C and the lowest was 145 C. At the same time the temperature of the medium in the synthesis tower was about 490 C. Therefore the highest temperature of the synthesis tower wall might have gone up to 490 C when the operation was stopped to preserve heat. The
expansion of the synthesis tower is larger than that of the cooling pipeline because of the temperature differential. Supports B and C which were designed to be able to slide could hardly slide as found by the
inspection after the accident. An excessive thermal stress was produced in the cooling pipeline, which nally
led to the destruction of the cooling pipeline. The destruction happened at the elbows a and c (Fig. 1). A
circumferential fracture occurred at the middle cross-section of the elbow a and shows a typical appearance
of brittle fracture (Fig. 2). The elbow c cracked along a longitudinal direction at the outer curve of the elbow and the length of this crack was about 300 mm. The atmosphere escaped and the fractured pipe ignited
in the accident.

2. Experimental methods
The microstructure, stresses and mechanical properties of the fractured pipeline were analyzed by the
methods of the metallography, mechanical property testing and nite element analysis. The compositions
of the fractured pipeline were examined by spectral analysis. Table 1 lists the samples taken.

3. Results and discussions

3.1. Analysis of steel compositions
Table 2 lists the compositions of the steel identied by the spectral analysis. The compositions of the
pipeline steel are basically coincident with GB/T699-1999 [4] (a Chinese standard).

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Table 1
Sampling position and quantity of samples
Elbow a

Straight pipe b

Elbow c

Notes

Chemical composition samples

Metallographic samples
Tensile samples

1
2

1
2

2
2

Impact specimens
Strain aging impact specimens

22
3

22

22
2

Elbow a: sampling at the circumferential fracture

Elbow c: sampling at middle and end of the
fracture
Elbow a: sampling at the circumferential fracture
Elbow c: sampling at middle and end of the
fracture
Sampling along the medium ow direction
Sampling 2 each along the axial and tangential
direction close to the inside wall

Table 2
Chemical composition of the cooling pipeline steel (wt%)

Elbow a
Straight pipe b
Elbow c
GB/T699-1999

Si

Mn

Ni

Cr

Cu

0.20
0.17
0.17
0.170.24

0.20
0.24
0.36
0.170.37

0.47
0.52
0.51
0.350.65

0.016
0.030
0.018
<0.035

0.019
0.019
0.026
<0.035

<0.25

<0.25

<0.25

3.2. Metallography
The fractograph of elbow a shows the thermal fatigue. The fatigue crack originated at a plastic sliding
pit in the outside pipe wall of the inner curved of the elbow (about 0.7 mm in depth). The fatigue crack
extension zone compared with the fracture surface is small. On the contrary, the instantaneous fracture
zone is large and the plastic deformation of the fracture is small, which shows that the loading on the
elbow is large when it fractures and the steel is brittle (see Fig. 2). Observing the original fracture surface
of the fractured elbow sample before metallographic preparation, the defects were not found. The metallographic structure adjacent to the outside pipe wall of the fracture sample is equiaxed (ferrite + pearlite), and the grain size is grade 45 (see Fig. 3(a)). The metallographic structure from outside to inside of
the pipe wall is coarse, shows a Widmanstatten structure and the grain size is grade 3 (see Fig. 3(b)).
Nitrides and micro-cracks are observed in the metallographic structure of the fracture sample, which
might be considered as the results of leaking out of (N2 + H2) and burning, leading to the steel nitriding
(see Fig. 3(c)). The structure of straight pipe b is (ferrite + pearlite) with grade 45 in grain size and normal micro hardness (see Fig. 4). Observing the axially cracked elbow c, the crack developed in a radial
direction across the pipe wall (21.5 mm in thickness) to 16.8 mm in depth and reveals a zigzag appearance. The metallography reects that the elbow c bore a large stress, therefore the grains elongated and
especially so on both sides of the main crack (Fig. 5(a)). Where the main crack passed, the grains were
quite ne and equiaxed ferrite, so it can be concluded that recrystallization happened here. (Figs. 5(b)
and (c)). There are many micro-cracks along both sides of the main crack, some of them developed outward along the main crack and some were distributed independently (Fig. 5(e)).The structure along the
thick cross section of the pipe wall is (ferrite + pearlite) and the grain size was grade 4 (Fig. 5(f)). The
carbides in the pearlite had begun to spheroidize (Fig. 5(i)), which indicates that elbow c had run for
a long time at high temperature.

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Fig. 3. The metallograph of elbow a (100).

Fig. 4. The metallograph of straight pipe b (100).

3.3. Hardness tests

The average hardness values of elbow a and c are HB205 and HB176, respectively, whereas that of the
straight pipe b is merely HB102, so this indicates that the hardness of the broken and cracked elbows is
higher than that of the raw and processed steel.
3.4. Tensile property tests
The steel tensile properties were measured on a SCHENCK universal testing machine using specimens of
elbows a and c and the straight pipe b. The results are listed in Table 3.

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Fig. 5. The metallograph of elbow c (400).

The data in the table indicates that the ultimate strength and yield point of elbows a and c are 13% and
32%, respectively, more than those of straight pipe b. The reductions in area and elongations of elbows a
and c are less than straight pipe b by 613% and 1747%, respectively. The at yielding band of the tension
curve of elbows a and c disappeared. Those all show that the steel is loosing ductility. The shape of the
tension curve, ultimate strength, yielding point, reduction in area and elongation of the straight pipe b
are basically identical to the index of steel 20.
3.5. Impact energy tests
Impact energy tests of specimens of elbows a and c and straight pipe b were carried out on the high
and low temperature impact testing machine, JB30G, and the results are given in Table 4. The circumferential impact absorbed energy, AKV of elbow a is only 3.94.0 J, which is about 10% of the normal
value of steel 20, and the longitudinal,AKV is just 5.29.0 J. The values of longitudinal AKV and circumferential AKV of elbow c are only 7.69.9 J, much lower than those of normal steel 20. GB6479-2000 [5]
regulated the AKV value of steel 20 G to 39.2 J. The longitudinal AKV values of normal straight pipe b
are 48.5 and 67.8 J, and the circumferential AKV values are 23.8 and 34.2 J, coincident with GB64792000.
3.6. Finite element stress analysis
Fig. 1(b) shows the analysis model and nite element meshes of the cooling pipeline. Considering the
symmetry of the pipeline, a half pipeline along the longitudinal section is taken. There are 9750 elements
and 3579 nodes in the ANSYS nite element program . The physical properties of steel 20 are listed in

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533

Fig. 5 (continued)

Table 3
Tensile tests on the cooling pipeline
Items/specimens

Elbow a 1#

Elbow a 2#

Straight pipe b 1#

Straight pipe b 2#

Elbow c 1#

Elbow c 2#

Ultimate strength rb (MPa)

Yield point rs (MPa)
Reduction in area w (%)
Elongation d5 (%)

528.2
359.1
56.6
27.9

528.8
352.7
56.9
26.2

471.6
277.6
60.0
31.4

464.6
275.0
61.5
36.0

544.0
392.3
53.4
17.9

522.2
350.3
52.6
22.3

Table 5, in which the property values at intermediate temperatures are obtained by interpolation. The
temperature of the pipe wall at the joint, A 0 , has the highest value and the temperature of the pipe wall
at support B has the lowest one (Fig. 1). The highest temperature is considered in two situations:
(a) equal to 210 C, the highest temperature of the outside surface of the tower wall when the tower

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Table 4
Impact energy values of pipeline
Items/specimens

Impact absorbed energy

AKV (J)

Elbow a

Straight b

Elbow c

Circumferential

Longitudinal

Circumferential

Longitudinal

Circumferential

Longitudinal

4.0

3.9

5.2

9.8

34.2

23.8

67.8

48.5

9.9

7.6

7.8

7.6

Table 5
The physical properties of steel 20
Temperature (C)
Youngs modulus (105 MPa)
Poisson ratio
Thermal conductivity (W/m K)

20

40

60

80

100

200

210

2.1
1000

300

400

1.92

560

270

170

0.3
132

1.51

94

80

69

is in normal operation; (b) equal to 400 C when the tower stopped operating and was thermally preserved, when the highest temperature in the tower may reach 490 C. The lowest temperature of the pipe
wall is supposed equal to 40 C. The stress analysis results are listed in Table 6. The stress components,
rx, ry or r1, r2 at the outer surface of the pipe wall in the middle of the inner curved side of elbow a are
either the maximum ones or very close to the maximum ones. When the highest temperature of the pipe
wall at A 0 is supposed to be 210 C , the temperature of elbow a wall is close to 210 C and r1 at elbow a
equals 236 MPa, which is beyond the minimum yield point of steel 20 (188 MPa, at 210 C according to
the maximum stress principle). At the same time, the stress of elbow c which is positioned near to A 0 also
exceeds the minimum yield point of the steel. Furthermore, when the highest temperature of the pipe wall
at A 0 is 400 C, the temperature of elbow a wall is also close to 400 C and r1 at elbow a equals 465
MPa. This greatly exceeds the yield point, (134 MPa, of steel 20 at 400 C) and is also beyond the ultimate strength of the steel. At the same time, the stress of elbow c also exceeds the minimum yield point
of the steel considerably and is close to or beyond the ultimate strength. There is no doubt that the temperature of the synthesis tower and the pipe wall was between 210 and 400 C when the pipe broke,
though there is no way to conrm accurately the temperature. The calculations indicate that the stress
of the elbows in the temperature range approaches and even exceeds the yield point and the ultimate
strength of the steel.

Table 6
The nite element analyzing results of stresses
Items

Pipe wall temperaure (C)

210

400

Circumferential

Longitudinal

Circumferential

Longitudinal

Stress components (MPa)

The stress values at outside pipe

wall of middle recurved part
of elbow a (MPa)
Maximum values (MPa)
Positions of maximum value

rx

ry

r1

r2

rx

ry

r1

r2

184

230

236

67

371

453

501

138

184
elbow a

280
A0

280
A0

88
A0

371
elbow a

500
A0

465
elbow a

138
elbow a

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Table 7
Strain aging impact energy values and sensitivity coecients of the cooling pipeline
Items/specimens

Impact energy AKV (J) of the samples annealed

at 888 C for 40 min
Impact energy AKV (J) of the samples 10% pre-staining
and aged at 250 C for 1 h
Sensitivity coecient of strain aging compared with the
value for straight pipe b (%)
Sensitivity coecient of strain aging compared with value
of non strain aging (%)

Elbow a

Straight pipe b

Circumferential

Longitudinal

54.0

125.0

11.0

10.5

12.0

10.0

81.5

91.4

Longitudinal

81.1

3.7. Analysis of strain aging

Because the steel properties of the straight pipe b do not change, it can be concluded that the embrittlement of elbows a and c of the pipeline is not caused by the operating medium. In order to analyze the
reasons for embrittlement of the two elbows, a specimen of elbow a was annealed and then impact
tested. The results indicate that the circumferential AKV is 54 J and the longitudinal AKV is 125 J
(see Table 7).
The strain ageing sensitivities for the annealed elbow a and the straight pipe b were analyzed according
to GB/T4160-1984 [6]. Table 7 lists the results.
In Table 7, the strain aging sensitivity coecient = (A
B)/(B) 100%, where A is the average value of
the impact energy after the strain aging, and B is the average value of the impact energy of non strain
aging.
The strain ageing sensitivity coecients of the elbow a and the straight pipe b almost equal and both are
more than 81%, which is much higher than the required strain aging sensitivity coecients for normal pressure vessels, 50%. The steel of the two elbows has a high strain ageing sensitivity and the embrittlement is
due to the steel itself .
4. Conclusions
The reasons for the failure of the pipeline are as follows.
(1) The stresses of the two elbows approach and even exceed the yield point and tensile strength of the
steel at the failure temperature because the thermal expansion of the ammonia synthesis tower is
larger than that of the cooling pipeline. This leads to the initiation and propagation of thermal fatigue cracks.
(2) Subsequent four fracture involves brittle mechanism, promoted by stain ageing and consequent low
values of impact energy.

References
[1] Yokoyama KenIchi, Nagumo Michihiko. Brittle fracture initiation associated with the strain localisation in a heat-aected zone of
a low carbon steel [J]. Metall Mater Trans A 1998;29(2):5518.

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[2]
[3]
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Li Ling, Analysis of aging phenomenon of low carbon steel [J], Steel Rolling 199(3):3132.
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