The influence of fire exposure on austenitic stainless steel for pressure vessel fitness-for-service assessment: Experimental research

The austenitic stainless steels are widely applied to pressure vessel manufacturing. The fire accident risk exists in almost all the industrial chemical plants. It is necessary to make safety evaluation on the chemical equipment including pressure vessels after fire. Therefore, the present research was conducted on the influences of fire exposure testing under different thermal conditions on the mechanical performance evolution of S30408 austenitic stainless steel for pressure vessel equipment. The metallurgical analysis described typical appearances in micro-structure observed in the material suffered by fire exposure. Moreover, the quantitative degradation of mechanical properties was investigated. The material thermal degradation mechanism and fitness-for-service assessment process of fire damage were further discussed.