The progress of the chemical industry in recent years has been quite remarkable, and the development and commercialization of new technology are being briskly carried out in every field of the industry.
Such new technology, meanwhile, entails much more stringent process conditions than formerly and also imposes unprecedentedly more severe environmental conditions on plant materials. On the other hand, automation of plants by the automatization of processes and enlargement of plant size is being vigorously implemented and, further, long term continuous operation of such plants is becoming a requisite. Thus the reliability of materials used for plant construction has become vitally important.
In the chemical industry, the various units are organically interrelated and trouble in one section can lead to a shutdown of the whole plant, with consequent adverse affects on productivity. Under such circumstances, the requirements concerning plant materials have become increasingly severe, and material reliability is now an...
