99 Diseases of Pressure Equipment: Metal Dusting or Catastrophic Carburization

By John Reynolds, Principal Consultant at Intertek. This article appears in the July/August 2004 issue of Inspectioneering Journal.

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Metal dusting is simply a severe form or extension of carburization in which the extensive carbides that form as a result of carburization lead to grains of metal falling out of the tube or piping and being swept away by the process stream. This leaves a heavily pitted looking structure along with thinning of the tube/ pipe. Sometimes those pits are still filled with a granular deposit of carbides that are easily chipped away during inspection and testing. An adequate RBI assessment for carburization will cover the metal dusting issue, too.

About the Author

John Reynolds, Principal Consultant at Intertek

John Reynolds is a Principal Consultant with Intertek Asset Integrity Management, Inc. Prior to this he was a Master Engineering Consultant with Shell Oil's Westhollow Technology Center in Houston. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin with degrees in Mechanical and Metallurgical Engineering, John joined Shell in 1968 and retired from Shell in 2006. Over the 37+ years of employment... Read more »