The EPRG Recommendations for Crack Arrest Toughness for Line Pipe Steel (Third Edition)

Author(s):  
Andrew Cosham ◽  
Robert Andrews ◽  
Tanja Schmidt

The third edition of the EPRG recommendations for crack arrest toughness for line pipe steels is presented. The third edition extends the applicability of the recommendations to pipelines transporting lean natural gas at pressures up to 100 barg (1450 psig), in diameters up to 1422.4 mm (56 inch), in grades up to Grade L555 (API 5L X80), and design factors up to 0.8. A quantitative definition of a lean gas is included in the third edition. The recommendations are intended to be applied to new pipelines. The recommendations are not intended to be applied retrospectively to existing pipelines.

Author(s):  
G. Wilkowski ◽  
D.-J. Shim ◽  
Y. Hioe ◽  
S. Kalyanam ◽  
F. Brust

Newer vintage line-pipe steels, even for lower grades (i.e., X60 to X70) have much different fracture behavior than older line-pipe steels. These differences significantly affect the fracture control aspects for both brittle fracture and ductile fracture of new pipelines. Perhaps one of the most significant effects is with brittle fracture control for new line-pipe steels. From past work brittle fracture control was achieved through the specification of the drop-weight-tear test (DWTT) in API 5L3. With the very high Charpy energy materials that are being made today, brittle fracture will not easily initiate from the pressed notch of the standard DWTT specimen, whereas for older line-pipe steels that was the normal behavior. This behavior is now referred to as “Abnormal Fracture Appearance” (AFA). More recent work shows a more disturbing trend that one can get 100-percent shear area in the standard pressed-notch DWTT specimen, but the material is really susceptible to brittle fracture. This is a related phenomenon due to the high fracture initiation energy in the standard DWTT specimen that we call “Abnormal Fracture Behavior” (AFB). This paper discusses modified DWTT procedures and some full-scale results. The differences in the actual behavior versus the standard DWTT can be significant. Modifications to the API 5L3 test procedure are needed. The second aspect deals with empirical fracture control for unstable ductile fractures based on older line-pipe steel tests initially from tests 30-years ago. As higher-grade line-pipe steels have been developed, a few additional full-scale burst tests have shown that correction factors on the Charpy energy values are needed as the grade increases. Those correction factors from the newer burst tests were subsequently found to be related to relationship of the Charpy energy values to the DWTT energy values, where the DWTT has better similitude than the Charpy test for fracture behavior (other than the transition temperature issue noted above). Once on the upper-shelf, recent data suggest that what was once thought to be a grade correction factor may really be due to steel manufacturing process changes with time that affect even new low-grade steels. Correction factors comparable to that for X100 steels have been indicated to be needed for even X65 grade steels. Hence the past empirical equations in Codes and Standards like B31.8 will significantly under-predict the actual values needed for most new line-pipe steels.


2011 ◽  
Vol 284-286 ◽  
pp. 1158-1164
Author(s):  
Xiaodong Shao

The use of high strength line pipe steels is beneficial for the reduction the cost of gas transmission pipelines by enabling high pressure transmission of large volumes of gas. The high strength line pipe steels will become the preferred materials for modern natural gas transmission pipeline. It was well known that manganese was an important element in the high strength line pipe steels. In this paper, a simple spectrophotometric method was described for determination of manganese in high strength line pipe steels. The method was based on the oxidation-reduction reaction between ammonium persulfate and manganese(II) producing manganese(VII) in the presence of silver nitrate as a catalyst. The characteristic wavelength of maximum absorption of manganese(VII) was obtained locating at 530 nm. Under the optimum reaction conditions the absorption value was proportional to the concentration of manganese in the range of 0.18%~2.0% (R2 = 0.9997), and the relative standard deviation was less than 3.0% (n=5). The proposed method was applied successfully to determine manganese in API grade X80 line pipe steel and API grade X70 line pipe steel samples.


Author(s):  
J. M. Gray ◽  
S. V. Subramanian

A quantitative understanding of hierarchical evolution of microstructure is essential in order to design the base chemistry and optimize rolling schedules to obtain the morphological microstructure coupled with high density and dispersion of crystallographic high angle boundaries to achieve the target strength and fracture properties in higher grade line pipe steels, microalloyed with niobium. Product-process integration has been the key concept underlying the development of niobium microalloyed line pipe steel technology over the years. The development of HTP technology based on 0.1 wt % Nb and low interstitial was predicated by advances in process metallurgy to control interstitial elements to low levels (C <0.03wt% and N< 0.003wt%), sulfur to ultra-low levels (S<20ppm), as well as in product metallurgy based on advances in basic science aspects of thermo-mechanical rolling and phase transformation of pancaked austenite under accelerated cooling conditions, and toughness properties of heat affected zones in welding of niobium microalloyed line pipes. A historical perspective/technological overview of evolution of HTP for line pipe applications is the focus of this paper in order to highlight the key metallurgical concepts underlying Nb microalloying technology which have paved the way for successful development of higher grade line pipe steels over the years.


1996 ◽  
Vol 36 (Suppl) ◽  
pp. S148-S150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yo-ichi Ito ◽  
Mamoru Suda ◽  
Yoshiei Kato ◽  
Hakaru Nakato ◽  
Ken-ichi Sorimachi

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