Boiler Embrittlement

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Abstract
In the introductory section of this paper, boiler embrittlement as a field of study is traced back toward the very invention and genesis of steam boilers. The study is traced through the miscellaneous researches of several countries up to the establishment of unified research in three institutions: Britain’s National Physical Laboratory in 1917, America’s University of Illinois in 1917, and Germany’s Vereinigung der Grosskesselbesitzern in 1920. In the second part of the paper, the chronological study is extended to date, but with emphasis on a critical evaluation of all published work which can be found from America, England, Germany, France, Sweden, Italy, and Russia. The roles of stress, caustic, chemical attack, “aging,” and hydrogen are given especial attention along with all other possible factors in boiler embrittlement. These factors are then shown to be identical with those observed in the attack of steel by hydrogen at elevated temperatures, a subject given peculiar neglect in the literature on boiler embrittlement. In the concluding section, the various factors involved in boiler embrittlement are interpreted from the viewpoint that “boiler embrittlement” is nothing other than an intermediate stage in a naturally occurring hydrogen-purification process. The arguments which have revolved around intercrystalline and transcrystalline paths of the fracture, the behavior of inhibitors and accelerators, the prerequisition of stress and of caustic, and the role played by the steel are discussed to show how logically all observations resolve themselves in the light of this new conception. This interpretation for boiler embrittlement is then corroborated visually by simple experiments made directly upon specimens from boiler plate which exhibited “boiler embrittlement.” Plans for future research along entirely new lines are suggested.

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