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Some
of the services we provide in the Petrochemical and Chemical Industry:
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Metal Pressure Vessels
and Piping
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Storage Vessels
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Polly Ethylene Vessels
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FRP Vessels and Piping
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Reactors and Hot Circuit
Piping
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Spheroids
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Heat Exchangers
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De Aerators
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Underground piping
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Cooling Fan Blades
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Valve Leak Testing etc.
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Overview:
GLASS
REINFORCED STORAGE TANKS:
Storage
tanks are very often constructed from FRP materials making inspection very difficult in
using conventional NDT methods. CARP (Committee
for Acoustic
Emission in Reinforced
Plastics)
was established by FRP users in early 1986 to develop a procedure for FRP testing. It is
now a code of practice such as ASME V section 11 and has become a requirement in the
petrochemical industry for this type of structure. This method is able to not only
determine the location of the problem but also to identify the type of activity detected
i.e. De-bonding, Fiber Breaking, Matrix Cracking etc.
HEAT
EXCHANGERS:
The
detection and location of leaking tube to tube sheet welds are important to detect when
using special chemicals. We have conducted several successful AE tests and were able to
detect the presence of leaks as well as structural defects in heat exchangers.
CLAD
PRESSURE VESSELS:
Most
clad pressure vessels are constructed with a carbon steel base and a stainless steel
internal layer. Clad vessels have been reported to have inter-layer cracking that could be
structurally significant. Conventional NDT requires the time consuming and costly removal
of all the insulation. AET however only requires that a 4-inch diameter hole be cut in the
insulation, permitting the sensors to be mounted. The vessels can be subjected to a 10%
over working pressure to complete the test.
REACTORS:
The
material of construction varies from carbon steel to a stainless steel. In the case of a
plain carbon steel construction the main problem appears to be cracking due to metal
fatigue and/or design problems. A recent research project was completed to determine
AET’s ability to detect and assess the critical size cracking. UT and destructive
tests were used to confirm the AET results with very good correlation.
A
similar study was conducted on carbon steel aging materials with graphitization. AET signature recognition software showed the
ability to determine whether the activity was from cracking in the carbon steel during a
cool down cycle. Further studies were conducted on CTOD specimens and a good correlation
was found between the size of the crack and the acoustic emission data analyses. Two
technical papers have been prepared and are available upon request.
DE-AERATORS:
The
use of acoustic emission testing for the online inspection of de-aerators has successfully
been completed with several satisfied customers.
REFORMER TUBES:
Using
a special application method and test procedure including the use of special software, ATT
have built up an experience base that has enabled us to determine the condition of the
reformer tubes without taking said reformer off line. The detection of second and third
stage creep being the main objective, the technical staff has to date successfully tested
over 8,000 tubes. In one case we were able to reduce a once per month shut down situation
to once per year (for a planned shut down), incurring tremendous savings in loss of
production.
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