After the flames are out, the hardest question begins: which equipment is safe to return to service? The metal remembers every temperature it saw, and the microstructure is where it writes the record down. AT A GLANCE The problem After a fire in a refinery, petrochemical, fertiliser or chemical plant, hundreds of equipment items sit under one question: reuse, repair or replace. Fire damage assessment is the discipline that answers it with evidence. Replace everything and the

The Failure That Had Nothing to Do With the Alloy Grade A heat exchanger in a refinery developed through-wall pitting within 18 months of commissioning. The tubes were specified correctly, the mill certificate confirmed the right alloy, and the installation inspection showed nothing unusual. The plant team replaced the bundle and assumed it was a manufacturing defect. It wasn't. The metallurgical testing on the failed tubes told a different story entirely. EDS analysis of the