Inspectioneering
Inspectioneering Journal

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.


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