CORE SERVICE OFFERINGS

In-situ Metallography

TCR Advanced Engineering, under the NDT service, performs

In-Situ Metallography

to determine in-service degradation of critical components of process and plants operating under high temperature, high-pressure and corrosive atmospheres. This technique enables real-time component condition monitoring and health assessments. TCR’s Metallurgists have extensive experience in the interpretation of microstructures and have more than 15,000 replica microstructure interpretations logged and captured in its proprietary database. The databases contain exhaustive information from various plants, captured over the course of four decades of service. The database also includes rare collections of varying microstructure damage levels from various industries such as power, oil, and gas, petrochemical, fertilizers among others.

The In-Situ Metallography team at TCR is highly skilled in the art of replica preparation. TCR has custom-developed special purpose in-situ polishing devices that assist in metallographic polishing under difficult locations and allows the field services team to carry out high-quality replication even on warm components.

Microstructure Guidelines: View replica microstructures for various alloys and their degradation mechanisms

SCOPE

In-Situ Metallography is performed for the following areas

To find out in-service degradation of critical components of the process plants operating under high temperature/high pressure/corrosive atmosphere
To conduct damage Assessment of fire-affected equipment of the plants
To undertake microstructure survey for critical components like boilers, pipelines, reactors, and vessels for condition monitoring/health assessment
To develop a databank of critical components of process plant equipment by periodical monitoring for preventive maintenance and planning for inventory control
To provide suggestions about their welding components of process plants
To check the quality of the microstructure of components for intended service, before putting it into use

In-situ Metallography and replication is used for microstructural analysis while examining large components that cannot be easily moved or when destructive sample preparation is difficult or not permissible. The testing allows quick on-site evaluation of a component’s metallurgical and heat treatment condition and assists investigators in carrying out a remaining life assessment study or a failure analysis project.

Damages Identified by Microstructures

Graphitization
Degradation of pearlite
Creep
Thermal fatigue
Oxidation
Grain growth
Hydrogen attack
Stress corrosion cracking
Sigma phase formation

TECHNICAL CAPABILITY

Core capabilities for Metallurgical Replica Interpretation

TCR, at their material testing laboratories in Mumbai and Vadodara, has a state-of-the-art Inverted Metallurgical Microscope, GX5, from Olympus Corporation, Japan. This Inverted Metallurgical Microscope allows expert metallurgists at TCR to perform Volume Fraction Measurement by point count method as per E-562 used for Duplex Steel and Carbide Morphology Distribution as per STAHL-EISEN-PRUFBLATT 1520 (SEP-1520) German chart for checking microstructures.

TCR Advanced Engineering Services has undertaken In-situ Metallography projects for several major plants of reputed clients including, Alstom Projects India Limited, Vadodara (Worked on more than 20 RLA projects), BARC (Mumbai), Heavy Water Board (Mumbai), BARC, Reliance Industries Limited (Jamnagar and Hazira), SPIC-SMO, Gujarat Electricity Board, Ahmedabad Electricity Board, GSFC Limited, GNFC Limited, IOCL (Vadodara), L & T, Hindustan Lever Limited (9 Boiler RLA Work), Narmada Chematur Petrochemicals Limited, Bharuch and many more. TCR performs Metallurgical Replica Interpretation for NDT Corrosion Control Services (NDT-CCS) in Saudi Arabia as well.

TYPES OF EQUIPMENT

At TCR, the 5 following sets of In-Situ Metallography kits and equipment are available:

Insipol 2000 And Advanced Electrolytic Flow Type Polisher And Etcher
Portable Rough Grinder With Self-Adhesive Papers
Portable Fine Polishing (Mini Grinder)
Portable Microscope Capable Up To 400X Magnification
Replica Kit: Used With Specialized Plastic Based Slides For Replica Preservation (For Longer Durability And Ease Of Handling On Site)

KEY INFORMATION FOR REPLICATION INTERPRETATION

Objective Of In-Situ Metallography - Condition Assessment, Fire/Damage Assessment, Remaining Life Assessment, Or Baseline Data Generation
Material of Construction with Exact Specification
Location of Replication with Sketch
Process Parameters and Design Parameters
Service Life of The Component at the Time of Replication
Any History Of Previous Failures at the Location of Replication