In the period between 1998 and 2002 several sweet wet gas 13 Cr flow lines were put into service in the Northern Netherlands. In 2001 a leak was reported in a line that had been in operation for one year. The failure analysis indicated that an inter granular cracking mechanism was a possible contributor to the formation of the leak path. Further investigation revealed that other lines also had intergranular cracking and leaks in the heat affected zone of the girth welds. The extent of the cracking was such that it was decided to take all 13Cr lines out of service. This paper summarizes the observations made and gives an overview of the extent and morphology of the cracking.

Subject
Crack growth, Materials, Piping, Girth welds, Leaks, Crack initiation, Inspection, Stress cracking, Intergranular cracking, Cracking, Grain boundary, Cracks, Chloride stress corrosion cracking
Keywords:
13Cr, line pipe, welding, corrosion, cracking
© 2004 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
2004
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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