ENGINEERING SERVICES

IRISNDT's Engineering Services are specifically applicable to plant maintenance and construction industries. Our engineers and technologists provide our customers with a practical approach to problem solving, due to a combination of extensive field experience and a fully equipped in-house laboratory facility.

IRISNDT provides engineering services for ferrous and non-ferrous metals, polymers (plastic and rubber), thermosets, fibre-reinforced plastics (FRP), and composites. These materials can be assessed in various forms such as castings, forgings, piping, weldments, seals, gaskets, etc.

Some areas where our Engineering services are applicable include corrosion engineering, high temperature service assessments, welding overlay integrity evaluation, fire damage investigation and assessments, failure analysis (corrosive and mechanical), material grade analyses of pipelines and in-service equipment, carbon equivalent evaluation using portable spectroscopy, mechanical destructive testing, metallography (field replication and destructive testing), and corrosion and nondestructive testing evaluations of plant pressurized equipment.

IRISNDT has experience in correlating corrosion, engineering, and NDT results for plant maintenance and construction operations. We are able to synergize engineering services and nondestructive testing services, and we can provide a progressive approach to equipment upgrades and acquisition of new technologies.

Typical engineering reports include engineering analysis, conclusions, recommendations, and visual representations.

Projects successfully completed by IRISNDT's Materials Engineering Department for plant facility customers:

• Replacement of 120" ID pressure vessel heads. The engineering support comprised details such as:



• Examinations to ensure that the older steel shell was weldable to a head made with a newer steel specification.



• A field temper bead welding procedure was developed to minimize heat damage to a vessel lead lining.



• An inspection program was developed to assess quality as the weld was deposited.


• Development of a risk based inspection interval for an ammonia tank. The interval determination was based on published literature on the performance of refrigerated ammonia tanks.



• In conjunction with the pressure vessel owner/user of a high temperature water reactor, the following analysis/examinations were performed:



• Discussion on materials to be considered for building a high temperature water reactor. The discussion entailed searching the data published for the last 25 years by the nuclear industry. Fully post weld heat-treated low alloy steels and nickel alloys were considered. The discussion on materials included information on deposited weld metal as well as plate.



• Failure analysis of high temperature water pressure vessel low alloy steel. The investigation comprised the evaluation of failures of low alloy steels used in the nuclear industry for the last 25 years.



• Data evaluation of high temperature water electrochemical tests of nickel and low alloy steels.



• Correlation between shear wave crack length and depth assessments and metallographic measurements.


• In conjunction with the owner/user of several liquid natural gas storage spheres, a detailed inspection procedure was developed for the equipment. The inspections were performed in lieu of the vessel being inspected internally. The program entailed acoustic emission, computerized ultrasonic imaging of welds, magnetic particle and API 510 visual inspections.



• Development and implementation of an inspection program to classify the integrity of equipment from a mothballed chemical processing plant.



• Testing of a 20-year old pipeline that was to be used at a higher pressure and a higher H2S content than originally designed.



• Fitness for service stress and crack limiting size assessments for pressure vessel nozzle welds.



• Inspection and assessment of tubing in a 50-year old boiler. Both Cr-Mo and carbon steel tubes were evaluated.



• Inspection and alloy recommendations for small diameter piping components in a caustic circuit.



• Inspection and nickel alloy assessments of tubing and fittings in high temperature furnaces.



• Failure analyses and materials selection of fluorocarbon components for low temperature corrosive acid and basic lines.



• Examination and selection of fastener alloys in a high chloride, high vibration service line. This required evaluations of multiple bolts used during one year of the line operating.



• Examination and testing of chromium and tungsten carbide overlays used in highly abrasive oil-sands lines.



• Selection of a high nickel alloy for an evaporator to replace a failed austenitic stainless steel pressure vessel. The high nickel alloy has been used for 6 years without cracks where the austenitic stainless plate developed cracks after one year of service. The high nickel alloy was chosen instead of a significantly more expensive titanium alloy.