Failure Analysis of a Rubber Hose in Anhydrous Ammonia Service

In July 2009, a fiber-reinforced rubber hose ruptured while being used to transfer liquid ammonia from a cargo tank truck to a storage tank. The rupture released ammonia vapor that drifted across a highway and through a neighborhood. As a result, one person was fatally injured and seven others required medical treatment.

This case history presents the failure analysis of the ruptured fiber-reinforced rubber transfer hose and focuses on the techniques used in the investigation. In particular, this case demonstrates how fractography can be applied to reinforced rubber and how Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy can be used to determine ammonolysis failure of fiber-reinforcement polymers.

via : ScienceDirect.com – Case Studies in Engineering Failure Analysis – Failure Analysis of a Rubber Hose in Anhydrous Ammonia Service.

Hydrogen embrittlement failure of box-like link-plate

This paper present a failure analysis of box-like link-plate. The failed link-plate is fabricated from 42CrMo steel and the surface of internal hole is demanded to be induction-hardened.

Evidences indicate that the failure of link-plate is due to hydrogen. The possible source for hydrogen was introduced during melting and casting process. A great number of non-metallic inclusions in the link-plate material acted as traps of hydrogen.

Via : http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1350630713000617