HIDDEN DEFECTS IN FITTINGS
Reported by: Shell Chemicals, SNC Moerdijk
Large bore flanges and fittings that were delivered in a critical phase of a multi-million
project had to be rejected because of unusual and possibly concealed manufacturing defects.
In this stage, the project can only be continued at the expense of very high cost and effort.
Currently SNC Moerdijk is implementing a 10 million+ project in the MSPO-2 unit. For these
projects numerous piping materials have to be supplied, diameters ranging up to 56”. Most
materials are made of AISI 316L stainless steel.
Initially some issues were encountered on a shipment of 40” flanges, where cracking was
observed visually. Follow-up inspections with dye penetrant testing further revealed that 10
out of 60 flanges had crack indications. Metallurgical investigations confirmed that cracking
was caused by forging defects.
Moreover, the investigations showed that cracking was
concealed by welding! (see figure 1).
The whole shipment had to be rejected. The
manufacturer of the flanges is: Wenzhou Fada Flange Co Ltd, Wenzhou PRC.
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- Spring '10
- Prof.Han
- Stainless steel, Eddy current, Wenzhou PRC, additional welds, Wenzhou Fada Flange Co Ltd
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