Analysis of Cracking Causes of P91 Welding Seam of High Pressure Steam Guide Pipe of Supercritical Unit

Abstract

A 600MW supercritical unit in a thermal power plant has been in operation for 63,000 hours, and a P91 weld leak occurred between the high-pressure steam guide pipe and the high-pressure governor valve. After macroscopic morphology analysis, alloy composition analysis, metallographic structure observation, and microhardness test analysis, it is found that the cracking of the base metal and weld on the high-pressure speed control valve is caused by structural stress and welding stress, which leads to cracking due to creep. The crack originated in the fine-grained area of the heat-affected zone, and it has been operating in a high-temperature operating environment for a long time. The P91 weld on the high-pressure steam guide tube produces creep holes in the fine-grained heat-affected zone, which gradually grow to form creep cracks, and eventually lead to cracks and leakage. Therefore, the failure of pipeline cracking is caused by the joint action of tensile stress and type IV crack.