Weld Repair Methodologies in the USA

OMMI (Vol. 2, Issue 1) April 2003

Development and Use of Weld Repair Methodologies in the USA

Kent K Coleman, EPRI, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
kcoleman@epri.com
About the Author: Kent Coleman has been with EPRI for four years and is currently the
manager of Fossil Repair Applications Center in Charlotte North Carolina. Prior to
joining EPRI, he was a Specialty Engineer for Western Resources where he spent 17
years dealing with power plant maintenance issues including administering the Repair
Plan for Kansas Gas and Electric. He has an extensive background in Boiler, Turbine
and Balance of plant maintenance and repair procedures and practices. He is a member of
Several ASME and AWS committees and groups.

Abstract
Deregulation of the Electric Power Industry in the United States has led to a volatile market
during times of peak power demand. Power reserves are becoming low during these times and
utilities desire to have plants available to meet demand and sell power. This has resulted in
shortened planned maintenance outages and minimized time required for repairs during forced
outages that keep units unavailable to produce power. This paper will present and discuss

several of the new productivity improving repair methods.

Keywords: Welding, Repair, Development, High Temperature

1. Introduction
Deregulation of the Electric Power Industry in the United States has led to a volatile
market during times of peak power demand. Power reserves are becoming low during
these times and utilities desire to have plants available to meet demand and sell power.
This has resulted in shortened planned maintenance outages and minimized time required
for repairs during forced outages that keep units unavailable to produce power. Refueling outages in nuclear power plants when most repair activities take place have been
shortened from over eight weeks to as little as 14 days. Fossil power plants are
experiencing pressure to shorten their outages accordingly. This has required
development of on-line repair techniques.
Over half of the power plants in the U.S. are being operated at or beyond their nominal
design life, while operating modes for many older units have changed from baseload to
cycling duty. The combination of aging and severe duty often leads to component
damage and in some cases unreliability. State-of-the-art repair technologies for boiler
and high-energy equipment can help power and steam plant owners and operators
increase profitability by optimizing equipment lifetime, reducing costs, and increasing
reliability.

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Repairing aged or damaged components is an increasingly attractive life-management

option. Much of the U.S. installed capacity is over 30 years old with several plants over
40 years old. With recent power shortages, retirement of these plants is being pushed
well into the future. In many cases end of life of boilers or boiler components is
becoming an economic issue instead of a technical issue. Component repair or
replacement is an attractive alternative to retirement and new construction.
Several issues can be delayed or avoided altogether by extending the life of current
capacity versus installation of new plants. These can include site acquisition, permitting
of water rights, and required pollution equipment.
Several new repair options can safely extend service life at savings of 5090% over
replacement. Whether owners and operators depend on in-house or outsourced workers,
prudent and cost-effective repair/replacement decisions require general information on
repair options and life extension benefits; site-specific information on a components
operating history and condition; and detailed information on repair procedures and
specifications.
Many new repair methods including temperbead (cold weld), narrow groove, and high
deposition FCAW or strip clad welding have been developed. Improved machining and
welding equipment have also been produced and are currently in use. New repair
methods have been created to deal with long seamed piping concerns and waterwall
wastage associated with stricter pollution controls. Additionally the aging welding work
force has fostered the development and use of advanced automatic and semi-automatic
welding process that are more user friendly while providing increased repair speed. This
paper will present and discuss several of these new productivity improving repair
methods.
2. Materials
Power plant boilers generally have three types of failures; those that happen during early
operation, those that occur at mid-life, and those that are time dependant and show up late
in life. The early failures generally are related to design, fabrication, and materials
issues. With the sophistication of engineering today, design problems are few.
Fabrication problems are generally easy to solve. Low alloy ferritic steels are well
understood in the U.S. and have been used successfully in power plants for 50 years.
Unlike Europe, P91 materials are just becoming popular in the U.S. Although this alloy
was developed in the US by Oak Ridge National Labs during the 1970s, domestic use in
replacement headers, tubing, and new construction has just taken off in the last decade.
This material cannot be treated like just another Cr-Mo material and failures have
occurred. The primary concerns with this material have been in the area of PWHT and
Type IV failures associated with the soft zone at the edge of the HAZ, [1]. European
studies have shown that the associated reduction in component life due to this
phenomenon may be as much as 50%, [2].

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The high chromium content of this alloy causes high hardness in weldments in the as
welded condition which require elevated PWHT to restore ductility. Research is on
going on the martensite transformation of this material as well as the best way to perform
dissimilar welds between P91 and low alloy and stainless steels.
Additionally new materials need to be developed that are resistant to corrosive
environments for waterwalls for base materials and overlay applications.
3. Welding Processes
Historically submerged arc welding (SAW) and shielded metal arc welding (SMAW)
were used in the shop for fabrication of boiler components with SMAW the welding
process of choice for field erection. Higher deposition process like short arc gas metal
arc welding (GMAW) were not used for welds in thick section pressure parts due to
concerns over strength and weld quality. Other welding process that offer higher
production rates are becoming acceptable or being developed for Code welds. These
include flux cored arc welding (FCAW), plasma transfer arc welding (PTAW), narrow
groove, and hot wire gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW-HW).

Figure 1, Narrow Groove Weldment

During the last few years, advanced welding equipment has been developed with fuzzy
logic microprocessor technology and waveform control for gas metal arc welding
(GMAW) and flux cored arc welding (FCAW), [3]. This equipment allows the arc

Weld Repair Methodologies in the USA

OMMI (Vol. 2, Issue 1) April 2003

conditions to be fine tuned for material thickness, wire diameter and material type. The
equipment reacts quickly to changes in welding conditions to permit high quality, high
deposition welding. This advanced equipment has allowed for higher deposition out of
position welding and overlay applications. These same advancements also allow the
power supplies to easily be adapted to automated torch manipulators that produce
excellent high quality welds.

Figure 2, Root weld using advanced GMAW

An area of growing concern is the availability of welders. The existing pool of skilled
welders is aging and efforts to bring newer generations into the welding field have not
been as successful as hoped. To combat this problem, several companies are now
marketing orbital pipe and tube welding machines. The first use of orbital equipment
was using the GTAW process in the 1980s but the technology has spread to about every
other welding process except SMAW. Automatic welding systems can be ordered using
just about any welding process including GTAW, GMAW, FCAW, and GTAW-HW.
Narrow groove welding is another area of development in the last decade, [4]. Instead of
the traditional 37 degree weld prep, narrow groove welding processes use a groove
with 0 to 5 degree sidewalls. This narrow groove requires far less filler metal and time to
complete the weld while lowering the residual stress resulting from cooling of the weld
metal.
4. Machining Technology
Another area where much development has occurred is in the area of field machining
equipment. Just about any machining application in a power plant can now be handled in

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OMMI (Vol. 2, Issue 1) April 2003

the field with portable pneumatic or hydraulic equipment. Equipment is continuously

being developed to speed up the machining process for specific applications. Large pipe
severing equipment, flange refinishing, and weld preparation equipment is now common.
One new development is for boiler header repairs. The leading problem with boiler
headers in the US is failure due to creep or fatigue in the header to stub tube weld. EPRI
in conjunction with Tri-Tool developed a new pneumatic machining tool that removes the
old tube stub and weld metal while preparing a new stub tube seat and weld preparation,
[5]. This machine is over four times as fast as conventional methods to perform the weld
prep.

Figure 3, Tri-Tool Header Master for evacuation of creep damage

in boiler tube-to-header attachment welds

5. Waterwalls
The rate of wall thickness losses (wastage) of fireside waterwall tubing in fossil-fired
utility boilers has been a concern of utility maintenance personnel for many years, [6].
Recent conversion by many utilities to low (NOx) burners for compliance with U.S.
Clean Air Act requirements has increased waterwall wastage rates up to 120 mils (3 mm)
a year in some boilers. To reduce this corrosion rate, utilities have been overlaying
existing waterwalls with corrosion-resistant weld materials or replacing waterwall panels
with new panels that have been overlaid in the factory. Replacement panels are now
being overlayed in fabrication shops using GMAW and laser welding process. Typical
overlay thickness is a little over 60 mils (1.5 mm).

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OMMI (Vol. 2, Issue 1) April 2003

These overlays are generally performed using some form of GMAW process. The most
common filler materials include Type 309 SS, Type 312 SS, In 625, and In 622. EPRI
studies have shown that an overlay with at least 20% Cr needs to be applied to resist the
corrosive atmospheres of the boiler, [7].
The tubing is generally filled with water during the welding process to allow for more
consistent welds while allowing for higher production rates. The ASME Code has
recently made changes based on 15 years of field overlays to allow corrosion resistant
overlay (CRO) welds to be performed on waterwall materials containing 1.5% Cr and
less without preheat or PWHT.
6. Weld Overlay of Socket Welds
Failure of small bore socket welds is a major contributor to unit unavailability. Many of
these failures occur due to vibration fatigue. Historically the welds at socket weld fittings
were fillet welds with equal length legs. Research has shown that overlaying an original
1:1 fillet weld that has failed with a filler weld using a leg on the pipe side twice as long
as the fitting side will provide service about as long as the original fillet weld, [8]. Many
utilities have taken this technology and are currently overlaying piping that has no
detectable damage as a factor of safety. Other utilities have adopted the improved
geometry for all new fillet welds on socket weld fittings.
7. Long Seam Piping
In the mid-1980s two failures of seam welded hot reheat piping occurred, resulting in an
inspection of hundreds of thousands of feet of seam welded piping throughout the fossil
power generation industry, [7]. Ultrasonic examination (UT), magnetic particle
examination (MT), radiographic examination (RT), acoustic emission (AE) and
replication were five commonly accepted NDE methods used to verify the adequacy of
the piping for future use. Despite these examinations several other failures of seamwelded piping occurred, which generated suspicion in the industry as to the accuracy of
previously conducted examinations.
While most degradation phenomena are well known and do not require re-inspection
every two years, the phenomenon of creep/fatigue crack growth is less well understood.
As seam weld failure represents a potential safety problem, utilities take a very
conservative approach to the potential problem and will re-inspect frequently. There are
two methods to slow down the progression of creep/fatigue crack growth in a component:
1) lowering the operating temperature by 50 100F (which has been demonstrated for
HP/IP turbines and boiler secondary superheater outlet headers) and 2) lowering the
stress in the component to the point where creep rate is reduced. The first option has
been used frequently in the past at the expense of generation and heat rate.
EPRI has developed a technology to reduce the stress on longitudinal seamed high energy
piping via increase in wall thickness, [9]. The method employed to increase the wall
thickness is a temperbead FCAW weld overlay. The temperbead process was chosen to

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OMMI (Vol. 2, Issue 1) April 2003

allow this repair to be performed during a normal outage window while not requiring
additional pipe bracing that might be required if a conventional PWHT was performed.
All welding development was performed using a machine welding FCAW system. A
typical 20 diameter pipe can have the stresses substantially reduced via the application
of a overlay that is 5 wide. Welds of this size have been demonstrated to take about
8 hours to complete and improve the life of the steam line by a factor of 6X. The overlay
weld has also been shown to place the entire original seam weld in compression, further
slowing the propagation of damage in the original longitudinal weld.

Figure 4, Longitudinal Seam Piping Repaired via Weld Overlay

8. Rotors and Discs

Welding and repair of steam turbine rotors and discs has become commonplace in
industry over the past decade. Components previously considered un-repairable are now
repaired on both a routine and very competitive basis with replacement. Welding
processes employed for these repairs include conventional submerged arc welding and
gas tungsten arc welding. Original Equipment Manufacturers, OEMs, and repair vendors
have focused considerable time, effort, money and testing in developing these welding
technologies. Reduced outage times are now forcing OEMs and vendors to look at more
innovative welding methods which promote higher deposition rates including multi-head
(machine) welding techniques, multi-wire techniques, strip-clad welding methods, and
high deposition plasma transferred arc welding methods. Welding deposition rates
exceeding 25 lbs/hour will become commonplace within the next few years.
Furthermore, on-site repair technologies are also being pursued.
Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of turbine blade attachments has become a major issue
for US utilities. SCC is heavily influenced by the yield stress and environment of the
blade attachment alloy. More corrosion resistant filler metals such as 9Cr, 12Cr, and
Alloy 625 have been employed to combat this problem.

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9. Areas of Needed Research

9.1 HRSG
With the power shortages two summers ago, many utilities have been installing combined
cycle plants. These plants generally have two combustion turbines, one heat recovery
steam generator (HRSG), and one steam turbine. The metal temperatures in the HRSG
often require the use of T91 alloys. With the close tubing arrangement of the tubing in
these steam generators, cutting your way in and welding your way out to repair tubes can
be quite time consuming, especially when you consider required PWHT on all welds. To
complicate issues further, many of the tubes in the HRSG have external fins that make
inspection, leak location, and repairs difficult. Tube leaks are frequently repaired by
plugging tubing. Better repair methods are needed.
9.2 New Base and Filler Metal Alloys
Research is ongoing throughout the world on more efficient power plants. These new
plants will operate at higher steam pressures and temperatures than current alloys. The
primary benefit of these plants is increased efficiency which results in less coal being
burned, less fuel cost, and decreased emissions. As these alloys are developed, the
manufacturers frequently perform a full program of tests to get the material approved by
the Code or governing body.
Unfortunately, welding issues are generally not addressed fully. A good example is U.S.
experience with the P91 alloy. At high temperatures, the weld and heat affected zone
demonstrate significant shorter life than the base metal. Many other alloys advertise
matching filler metals that essentially contain the same chemical content as the base
metal. Welds made with the same material frequently do not demonstrate the same
properties as base metal.
Additionally, transitions between these materials and other existing materials are seldom
addressed. Filler metals need to be developed for transitions from the high temperature
nickel based alloys to austenitic and ferritic alloys. Thermal expansion, strength,
weldability, and long term service properties will all be concerns.
Another area where improved filler metals are needed is in the area of waterwall
overlays. A high chromium, inexpensive, easily weldable filler is desirable that has
thermal expansion close to low alloy steel tube metals and is stable at elevated
temperatures.
10. Conclusion
The utility welding engineer will not be eliminated for many years. Outages will
continue to be shortened. Operating pressures and temperatures will rise. New alloys
will be developed. Advanced welding process will be developed. While this is occurring,
staffing will probably not be increased. Utility welding engineers will have plenty to do
in the future to guarantee the efficient supply of power to the world.

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OMMI (Vol. 2, Issue 1) April 2003

11. References
1. K. Coleman, D. Gandy, and W. Newell, Guideline for Welding P(T) 91, EPRI
Report 1006590, June 2002.
2. R. D. Townsend, CEGB Experience and UK Developments in Materials for
Advanced Plant, Advances in Material Technology for Fossil Power Plants, eds.
R. Viswanathan, R. Jaffee, ASM Chicago, 1987.
3. G. Frederick, N. Chapman and R. Button, Advanced GMAW Process for Pipe
Welding Applications, EPRI Report 1003166, December 2001.
4. D. Segletes, D. Amos, Narrow Groove Gas Tungsten Arc Welding,
Proceedings: Welding and Repair Technology for Power Plants, Daytona Beach,
Fl 1996.
5. G. Hudgins and D. Gandy, Repair Technology for Stub Tube-to-Header Creep
Damage, EPRI Report HW-113512, 1999.
6. K. Coleman and D. Gandy, Weld Overlay of Fossil Boiler Waterwall Tubing,
Alternative Filer EPRI Report 1001268, March 2001.
7. T. Sherlock, C. Wells, and R. Dooley, State of Knowledge Assessment for
Accelerated Waterwall Corrosion with Low NOx Burners EPRI Report TR107775, 1997.
8. G. Frederick and M. Sullivan, Code Acceptance of Overlay Repair of Socket
Weld Failures EPRI Report 1003165,December, 2001.
9. K. Coleman and D. Gandy, The Use of Weld Overlays to Extend the Useful Life
of Seam Welded High Energy Piping in Fossil Power Plants, February 2001,
EPRI Report 1001270.