Seminar shows how to monitor hot hydrogen attack

The seminar focused on the different advanced inspection methods and services that identify and monitor hot hydrogen attack (HHA).

HHA is a form of degradation brought about by hydrogen reacting with carbon, which, in turn, can cause cracks and a loss of strength in steel.

For this reason, the presence of hydrogen in industrial plants is a potential source of damage that can cause unsafe situations.

In weld material, HHA can lead to a leak, but when the damage is in the parent material, the result can be catastrophic.

Therefore, it is necessary to precisely and adequately monitor HHA.

The seminar, conducted by SGS Pakistan in cooperation with SGS Netherlands, provided industrial facility owners with a platform to better understand the process of HHA.

Attendees from different industrial fields had the chance to share their views and insights on the various ways that advanced inspection techniques work for them.

They were taught about the formation of HHA in steel and welds and its destructive effects on industrial plants.

There were presentations about the most efficient advanced inspection techniques offered by SGS Industrial Services for the detection of HHA.

The seminar highlighted advanced ultrasonic inspection methods such as time-of-flight diffraction (ToFD), automated backscatter and velocity ratio measurements.

By combining these three advanced NDT techniques, SGS has developed a specific procedure and approach to sufficiently identify and monitor HHA.

To detect the possible occurrence of HHA, the company sets up a precise inspection plan with the backscatter technique using Corroscan for the most critical areas.

In order to distinguish between HHA and small inclusions and to verify the attack, additional measurements are taken using the velocity ratio technique.

For the inspection of weld material, the scanning of all welds with ToFD and manual or automated pulse echo is required.