Failure Analysis of Wave-Serrated Metal Gaskets

After an overhawl of the inedium pressure stean pipe in a petrochemical company, a pair of wave-serrated metal gaskets of flange in the pipe cracked and the pressure steam leaked out at the beginning of rerunning. Macroscopic inspection, mechanical test, metallography, SEM, EDS and stress analysis were used to analyze the failure reason. The results show that the serious serried material defects and micro-cracks in the wave-serrated metal gasket were the main causes of failure. Some protective measures were proposed and implemented, and this pipel was worked for four years safely.