Lecture 2 Machine Deterioration and Failure

Deterioration
The act or process of becoming worse or lower in quality, value or character.
Adjustments Breakdown Effect of Deterioration Reworks

Defects

Down Time Increament

Ferrous Metal
Wrought Iron - An iron alloy with very low carbon content containing fibrous inclusions caused by the integration of slag during the manufacturing process. Historically, it was known as "commercially pure iron", however it no longer qualifies because current standards for commercially pure iron require a carbon content of less than 0.008% by weight.
Steel - Alloy of iron and carbon, whereby between 0.07- 2.1 % carbon, by weight, is dissolved in the iron. Varying the amount of alloying elements and form of their presence in the steel (solute elements, precipitated phase) controls qualities such as the hardness, ductility, and tensile strength of the resulting steel.

Ferrous Metal
Cast iron Ferrous metal containing between 2.1 4% carbon and often contains between 1-3% silicon. The melting point of cast iron is about 300oC lower than pure iron. Cast iron tends to be more resistant to corrosion than wrought iron or steel.
Stainless steel - A steel alloy with a minimum chromium content of 10.5% by weight. The chromium forms a passive surface layer of chromium oxides on the surface, which prevents corrosion. Depending on its designed use, stainless steels can also contain nickel, manganese, molybdenum, sulphur, phosphor, lead, aluminium, titanium, silicon, nitrogen and copper, plus others.

Ferrous Metal Deterioration

The main deterioration problem with ferrous metals is rust. Rust is caused by the oxidation of iron in the presence of moisture.
Red/orange rust is chemically unstable, and porous, which allows moisture, oxygen, chlorides, sulphides and sulphates to rear bare metal, so a protective layer is not formed. Dark brown/black rust (typically magnetite) is usually chemically stable. When rust forms, it can also cause mechanical damage, because as it forms it occupies a larger volume than the metal, so in some situations it will cause parts to bend or even break.

Prevention of Ferrous Metal Deterioration

Ferrous metals are often plated to provide corrosion protection.
Typical platings are : 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. zinc (galvanizing) tin (tinplate) lead (ternplate) chrome nickel.

Cuprous Metals
Cuprous metals include copper, bronze (copper/tin alloys) and brass (copper zinc alloys).
These alloys are fairly corrosion resistant. A protective layer of oxide is usually formed, giving them a dull, dark appearance. If exposed to organic acids, or moisture and carbon dioxide, pale green and/or blue copper carbonates may be formed. These are generally stable and are not an ongoing corrosion concern, although they may appear unsightly. Sulphides cause tarnish, which on copper and its alloys is typically a thin rainbow coloured patina. Copper sulphides are generally chemically stable. Brass and bronze in conditions where they are subjected to mildly acid flowing water, are liable to de-alloying. This is known as dezincification and destannification respectively. The zinc and tin are gradually leached out of the alloys, leaving a porous, physically weak copper matrix.

Copper Alloys
Copper alloys - vulnerable to active corrosion by chlorides. In the right conditions chlorides will result in pitting, and it is often referred to as Bronze Disease since it is possible for the corrosion to infect other nearby parts.
Chloride corrosion of copper and its alloys is a cyclic process. The chlorides react with copper to form cupric chloride, which then in turn reacts with moisture to form hydrochloric acid, which then attacks un-corroded copper

Aluminium alloys
Alluminium alloys - include copper, magnesium, zinc, silicone.
Aluminium alloys have very good corrosion resistance, because of a thin layer of aluminium oxide that forms rapidly on the surface. Chlorides and sulphates are the most common causes of corrosion encountered. If the protective oxide layer is interrupted in the presence of chlorides, pitting usually results. Chloride pitting of aluminium is similar to bronze disease, in that it becomes a self-propagating cycle.

Machine Failure
Faulty design
Material defects Process and manufacturing deficiencies Assembly of installation defects Off-design or unintended service conditions Improper operation Maintenance deficiencies

Machinery Failure
Many causes of failure in machinery exist and their predominance will vary to some degree from industry to industry. However, the most common causes, in order, are:
Misalignment Unbalance Resonance Bearings Looseness

Flow-related problems
Electrical

Misalignment

Misalignment exists when the centre lines of two adjacent machines deviate from each other.
Misalignment is universally recognised as the leading contributor to machinery failure. For the same level of vibration it is much more serious than unbalance for its effect in reducing bearing life, largely because of the parasitic axial thrust.

Principal Causes of Misalignment

Lack of appropriate Standards and Specifications
Poor Tolerances and Poor Methods Good Methods, but bad practices Lack of understanding of precision process Dynamic movement (thermal growth, pipe strain etc.) Mis-diagnosis with Unbalance or Looseness

Unbalance
Unbalance exists when the mass center line of a rotor is not coincident with the geometric center line. The resultant orbital motion has a severe impact on the life of bearings and on seals.

Principal Causes of Unbalance

Accumulation of assembly tolerances
Poor attention to assembly Inappropriate use of standards Non-homogeneous materials (casting blow holes) Operational uneven build up of product Erosion of rotor material

Resonance
Resonance is a condition which occurs when a machine forcing frequency (related to rotational speed) becomes coincident with, or close to, the natural frequency of a machine component or appendage.
The condition is like that of a mechanical amplifier and can result in a very severe vibration at that frequency when the forcing vibration is already too high. Tacoma bridge collapses due to resonance

Bearing Failure
The most common cause of bearing failure is loss or contamination of the lubricant. Mechanical defects such as misalignment and unbalance have a severe impact upon bearing life.
There is a cubic relationship between fatigue (vibration velocity) and bearing life; thus a halving of vibration velocity can theoretically give 8X the bearing life.

Bearing Failure Catagories

Looseness
Looseness may be considered as being where parts are not fitted tightly together. Typically this fits into three categories;
Structural looseness/weakness of machine feet, baseplate or foundation. Also by deteriorated grouting, loose hold-down bolts at the base and distortion of the frame or base. This may be seen as Soft Foot. Loose Plummer block bolts, cracks in frame structure or bearing pedestal. Improper fit between component parts, e.g. excessive clearance in a sleeve or rolling element bearing, impeller loose on its shaft.

Plummer Blocks

Flow Related Problems

Flow related problems such as cavitation and recirculation are caused by pumps operating outside of their design parameters.
When a centrifugal pump is operated below its design capacity, or with extreme suction conditions, it is likely to experience cavitation. Cavitation occurs when vapour bubbles are formed in the pump low pressure regions and then collapse in a higher pressure region; the collapse leads to erosion of the impeller, and sometimes the casing. Another common problem with centrifugal pumps is recirculation. Liquid returns from the impeller discharge either externally to the impeller suction through worn wear rings, or may return internally, and impacts on the impeller vanes. The problem is worse when the discharge is throttled or when the impeller is axially displaced so that it does not align with the pump discharge. The result is increased vibration at vane passing frequency and there may be a significant temperature increase. The reverse flow in the pump and mixing of the liquid results in a random vibration not unlike cavitation and can lead to erosion of the impeller.