Understanding Weld Morphologies and Evaluation

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Polymers Project Update

A M a t e r i a l s T e c h n o l o g y I n s t i t u t e P u b l i c a t i o n

COMMUNICATIONS “Maximizing resources through a global network of materials specialists” | WINTER 2014

http:/ /www.mti-global.org

INSIDE THiS ISSUE

2. A Vision for MTI

3. And the Survey Says… 4. Polymers

Project Update

6. Thermal Insulation Project Report

Inside this Issue8. AsiaTAC

Update9. EuroTAC

Preview

10. AmeriTAC 112 Report

WINTER 2014 | 2

MTI Chair Paul Whitcraft

Shares His Vision

About this Publication:MTI Communications is published by the Materials Technology Institute, Inc. (MTI). MTI is a unique, cooperative research and development organization representing private industry. Its objective is to conduct generic, non-proprietary studies of a practical nature on the selection, design, fabrication, testing, inspection, and performance of materials and equipment used in the process industries.

Copyright © 2014 Materials TechnologyInstitute, Inc. All rights reserved.

Contact:Submit all correspondence regardingMTI Communications to:Materials Technology Institute, Inc.1215 Fern Ridge Parkway, Suite 206St. Louis, MO 63141-44081-314-576-7712 (telephone)1-314-576-6078 (fax)mtiadmin@mti-global.org

MTI Communications Editorial Board:Michael Anderson, SyncrudeDavid Barber, The Dow Chemical CompanyEileen Chant, Becht EngineeringDebby Ehret, MTIGene Liening, The Dow Chemical CompanyJohn Aller, MTISteve Springer, DuPontHeather Stine, MTIMichael Turner, AkzoNobelBill Watkins, MTI

Editor: Kirk Richardson, MTI

Subscriptions:For a free subscription, write to MTI orcontact mtiadmin@mti-global.org

Calendar:EuroTACMarch 25-26, 2014Eindhoven, The Netherlands

AsiaTACMay 15-16, 2014Chia Yi City, Taiwan

AmeriTAC 114June 16-19, 2014Denver, CO

AsiaTAC Annual Meeting September 25-26, 2014 Shanghai, China

AmeriTAC 115October 20-23, 2014Columbus, OH

Please contact us at 314-576-7712 ormtiadmin@mti-global.org for moreinformation or to find out how yourcompany can become a member.

Web Site: http://www.mti-global.org

MTI has built a history of successes on the extra efforts of members who

step up and take on leadership roles when needed. The organization is only as effective as the people who lead and contribute to its projects, committees, and Board of Direc-tors. In that spirit of participation, Paul Whitcraft agreed to lead the organization’s Board for three years, a change made seamlessly as Ed Naylor completed his term as Chair in October 2013. Whitcraft, Direc-tor of Technology at MTI member company Rolled Alloys, was no stranger to MTI leadership roles, having been a BOD member since 2010 and his company’s Designated Representative since 1995. MTI would be hard-pressed to find a better fit. A longstanding member of ASTM International, Whitcraft served on that organi-zation’s Board of Directors from 2003−2011 and was its Chairman in 2009. He continues to serve as the Chairman of Sub-Committee B02.07 on Nickel and Cobalt Alloys. In addition, Whitcraft is a member of NACE International, The Corrosion Society, ASM

International, SAE International, and the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI). Leading up to his management positions at Rolled Alloys, he worked at Carpenter Technology, after earning a Metallurgical Engineering degree from Drexel University. Now Whitcraft will focus his considerable talent and association leadership experience on MTI, and he isn’t wasting any time getting started. “John Aller, our new Executive Director, and our Membership Committee are working diligently to make sure we do everything possible to retain current members and have been instrumental in efforts to attract others,” he reports. “I want to sup-port this effort in whatever way I can. Chemical producer members are the heart of MTI, and we need to be certain we are maximizing the benefits of MTI membership.” Whitcraft is focused on making sure that the foundation is sound. “My other immediate goal for 2014 is to have our Board finalize a Strategic Plan and begin taking

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The first time that Mike Anderson (Syncrude) attended an AmeriTAC

Meeting, he was at a loss for words. Actually Anderson was only quiet because he was observing and absorbing the interactive meeting format. Members and guests who have attended another CPI confer-ence often comment on MTI’s unique approach to collaboration. It didn’t take Anderson long to figure out and embrace the pro-cess. At the very next meeting, he reached for the microphone to answer a question and has been an active participant ever since. In fact, Anderson is so involved that he is now the AmeriTAC Vice Chair. Although the core format of presentations, project meetings and discussion of non-proprietary technical issues has remained intact for many years, each leader-ship team refines it to meet mem-ber needs. AmeriTAC Chair David Barber and Anderson recently sur-veyed MTI membership, facilitated a discussion of the results, and re-quested feedback at the AmeriTAC 112 Meeting in Savannah, Georgia. “The driver is just to check on where the membership is at this given time about what their needs are from the TAC in general,” explains Barber. “These needs change based on the business environments and the geopolitical environment of what we can and can’t do. The audience is evolving as there is some turnover in who is attending based on retirements of more senior folks. So you need to get a sense of where those folks are coming from.” “It also gives people an oppor-tunity to comment, who may not

normally voice that during a big discussion,” adds Anderson. “It gives them a chance to say things that they may not say face-to-face. Some people like to think about things, then write them down.” The survey captured information that Barber and Anderson are already put-ting to good use. “One of the things that I liked that we got out of it was a reason-ably extensive list of struc-tured forum topics,” says Anderson. “For me, that’s been a bit of a challenge early in this process as the Vice Chair. It seems like we spend way too much time trying to find good structured forum topics. This gives us a list that we can go to over the next few years and actually respond to what people want rather than try to guess.” Barber hopes to see the pre-sentations range beyond metals, non-metals or inspection of those materials. “We have several differ-ent industry areas and functions represented at MTI, and we need to hit all of those different areas where technology is,” he explains. Survey respondents also shared their thoughts on how to gain more value from the one-day TAC portion of the meetings (not the Project Committee or Board Meeting days). “There were some pretty good suggestions,” notes Anderson. Those included failure analysis discussions, interactive workshops, and more free time for networking/technical discussions, among other ideas. “We’ve had a lot of good discus-sions on how the forum Q&A

sessions ought to go,” says Barber. “I think that we’re getting closer to what the bulk of the members who attend the TAC meetings on a regu-lar basis want to do. A lot of it has to do with eliminating questions that have already been answered to the questioner’s satisfaction. It gives us more time for structured forum presentations, project discussions, and networking.” The AmeriTAC leaders hope that members will continue to share ideas and provide feedback. Barber asks member representatives for candor. “Tell me what you like, and tell me what you don’t like,” he says. “Give us feedback.” Anderson wants to hear the good and the bad. “Going to a meeting, not being happy with it, and not coming back again doesn’t help anybody,” he points out. It takes an expert out of the network. “Everybody adds to the TAC Meetings,” he concludes. In the case of the AmeriTAC Meeting, the whole technical community is certainly much greater than the sum of its parts. n

Leadership Making the Most of TAC SurveyNew Ideas for Structured Forum Presentations

WINTER 2014 | 3

WINTER 2014 | 4

MTI has undertaken a sig-nificant development proj-ect with Swerea KIMAB,

a world leader in the discipline of corrosion properties of polymeric materials. The objective of the proj-ect is to study the morphological changes of welds on polymers that have been exposed to chemicals and determine corrective actions to reverse the effects and perform acceptable welds. Polymer lined equipment has become more common in the chemical process industry due to its cost effective corrosion resis-tance to severe chemical service. Industry culture demands that the life of the equipment be extended as long as is safely possible. Equipment that has been in service can be damaged during an inspection, require a modification such as the installation of a new nozzle, or otherwise have need of a localized repair before the life of the liner is reached. However, performing weld repairs on equipment that has already been exposed to chemicals can be dif-ficult. Chemicals permeate the polymers, and weld repairs can result in extensive bubbling and weak welds that don’t “stick” to the base material, requiring a

completely relined vessel. The cost of a new or relined vessel can be hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is a frequently encountered problem among end users of plastic process equipment, and it has never been systematically studied. There are many standards for plastic welding in new equipment, but no guidelines for welding on exposed polymers. Phase I of KIMAB’s work for MTI has just been completed, and KIMAB is moving on to Phase II. The report from Phase I is available on the MTI website on the Polymer Repair Welding Project page. The work in Phase I involved exposure of 10 different polymer materials in up to seven different chemical environments for 6-12 weeks. Each of these polymer samples was then welded and evalu-ated using a variety of techniques. Each sample was cross-sectioned, polished and inspected using an op-tical light microscope. The weight of samples was measured before and after exposure to determine the degree of absorption. Welds were performed according to ASTM 638-D and the weld-ing factor was evaluated for each sample. Fatigue testing was also performed for some welds to see if

this would be a valid weld evalua-tion technique. Finally, pull tests were performed to see if the welds were bonded to the base polymer. One of the key learnings of Phase I was that the short term weld fac-tor, which has been considered an industry standard for evaluating the integrity of a polymeric weld, did not have good correlation with the visual and even pull test results. One of the key objectives of Phase II will be to establish quantitative test criteria that can be used in the field to determine if a weld repair is acceptable. Phase I of the project also in-volved testing a number of polymer samples that had been in service in chemical process equipment for a number of years in a variety of services. The results of these tests were quite interesting and showed the same general trends as the lab exposed samples. The results of Phase I allowed two specific chemical and polymer environments to be selected for further study. Polypropylene in mixed HNO

3 and HF acid, and

PFA in FC-72 will be used for development of weld repair techniques. The reason for choosing poly-propylene in mixed acid is that it

Polymers Project UpdateUnderstanding Weld Morphologies and Evaluation

1 2

By Heather Stine

WINTER 2014 | 5

is representative of a material that suffers from chemical degradation. This degradation results in differ-ent flow properties of the polymer, which has been found to affect the quality of weld repairs. Polypropyl-ene is used extensively for mixed acids, and the weldability of the materials after some time in service has been a major industry concern. PFA with FC-72 will also be studied. Fluorinated polymers such as PFA and PTFE are commonly used in the industry and are among the more expensive to replace, so weld repair techniques that will be effective for them are greatly needed. FC-72 is a fully fluorinated solvent that caused extensive swell-ing of the PFA, which will enable KIMAB to study a different failure mode as well. Studying two systems that both pose weldability problems, but via the different mechanisms of swell-ing and chemical degradation, will increase our understanding of the weld morphology and its effects on weldability. In addition, a number of indus-try exposed samples have already been collected and will be studied in further depth. The chemical and physical changes for these materials will be studied in detail, and rem-

edies for improving the weldability will be investigated. The final aim of the project is to formulate procedures or techniques that can be used to successfully weld polymers after chemical expo-sure. It might be necessary to make these specific for different materi-als and media, based on an under-standing of the type of degradation the interaction has caused.

MTI members are eagerly an-ticipating results from this project. There is no doubt that, as a mini-mum, this exciting MTI project will greatly increase our understanding of polymer weld morphologies and evaluation. Hopefully, it will also result in successful weld repair techniques for exposed polymers that will be of tremendous value to member companies. n

3 4

1. Cross-section of weld. PVDF exposed to sulphuric acid. Black discoloration formed during welding in fusion line and heat affected zone. Welding performed after exposure. 2. Weld fractured during tensile test. PVC exposed to nitric acid. 3. Weld seam, top view. CPVC exposed to nitric acid. Degradation product and extensive bubble formation in heat affected zone. Welding performed after exposure. 4. Weld fractured during tensile test. PFA exposed to hydrochloric acid. Fracture location: fusion line. 5. PVC tank lining exposed to nitric acid for 10 years. Cross-section of weld revealing bubble formation in the heat affected zone. The unusual blend in the root indicates degradation and difference in melt flow index. Welding performed after exposure. 6. Cross-section of weld. CPVC exposed to nitric acid. Bubble formation in heat affected zone. Insufficient root penetration due to dissimilar melt flow behaviour of the degraded parent substrate and welding rod. Welding performed after exposure.

65

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Insulating materials developed for the aerospace industry may soon gain broader acceptance

in the chemical processing in-dustry thanks in part to an MTI modeling project. CPI companies are beginning to consider highly porous ceramic fiber insulations as replacement candidates for fire-brick insulations in high-temper-ature, high-pressure applications. These lightweight materials may prove more effective as insulators compared to dense refractories and firebrick. However, a lack of experimental data and predictive models, especially in high pressure environments, has limited use of these materials in chemical plant applications. MTI collaborated with the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) on a project to develop a general, applied thermophysical model to predict effective thermal conduc-tivity (k

eff) of insulation materials

and to determine the temperature, pressure, and gas conditions under which natural convection is a pos-sible mode of heat transfer. The primary goal was to build a predictive model for k

eff under a va-

riety of conditions, especially high pressure gas, which is not readily available in engineering literature, and a quantitative tool to evaluate these insulations as possible materi-als of construction. Under contract to MTI, CSM used fundamental and applied sources to develop a general, semi-empirical thermophysical model capable of predicting k

eff for highly

porous ceramic insulations. The model calculates k

eff as the sum of

conduction, convection, and radia-tion partial conductivities. Ultimately, the project gener-ated a MATLAB code, written to

operate the model and analyze the data. The team validated the

model using the available experi-mental data, including data from literature and laboratory measure-ments made during this research effort. Eric Minford, a Lead Research Engineer at Air Products and Project Champion for MTI, reports that a new predictive model would allow him to design more efficient reactor systems. MTI Communica-tions recently caught up with Min-ford for a Project Progress Report.

MTI Communications: Why was the Thermal Insulation Project important enough for you to play a leadership role?

Minford: “At Air Products, and particularly in my project area, we have a number of reactors that are designed to operate at high tem-perature and high pressure in gas service. In terms of design for the insulation of those reactors, it was a rule of thumb, where you basically expect three times higher conduc-tivity from the insulation when you go to a given pressure. So you would base your design on that. It

was all empirical because there was no data out there on these fibrous ceramic refractory materials. “We directed our efforts initially at developing models that we be-lieved would be suitable for pre-dicting behavior and allow you to do design work on a more rational basis. When you are designing us-ing rule of thumb kind of criteria, you are forced to be very conserva-tive in your design basis because you don’t know what to expect. You are basically using empirical data or values which are, at best, an educated guess. “When you are insulating pres-sure vessels, if you have to go overly conservative, it means that you add more insulation. In a cylindri-cal pressure vessel, it adds to the diameter of that pressure vessel, which makes the cost of the pres-sure vessel much more expensive. By having more realistic models (which will ultimately be tested), you can do more accurate design work and not be forced to be overly conservative in your design basis.”

Project Progress ReportQ&A with Eric Minford, Thermal Insulation Project Champion

Pressure dependence of natural convection at a hot face temperature of 1300 K.

WINTER 2014 | 7

MTI Communications: Is the cost savings significant?

Minford: “It depends on the scale of the system, but it can be significant, certainly, for large scale reactor systems.”

MTI Communications: What is the next step in the process?

Minford: “We’re going to try to put in place a program to do experi-mental verification of the models. So we would actually do some testing under specific conditions to confirm whether the model is ac-curate in its predictions or whether the models need to be adjusted. The systems to do those kinds of tests don’t currently exist, so there is going to be a fair amount of cost involved. We’re looking at ways that we can leverage that cost. We’re going to try to develop a program where we can get this testing done.”

were baked into them. There was literature and other information that they were able to find that al-lowed them to break down some of the components of that. Then they used the samples that I provided them to understand what the mi-crostructure of these materials was truly like and how that would be reflected in the modeling.”

MTI Communications: Ultimately, how many materials is MTI plan-ning to cover in the project?

Minford: “There is a modest vari-ety of these insulations out there in terms of representative micro-structures, so it’s just a matter of getting samples of different classes of microstructures. We probably want to look at a maximum of a half dozen types. “These types of refractory mate-rials are used in ambient pressure furnace applications, but they haven’t been used a lot in terms of reactor applications just because at an elevated pressure, there is no design basis. So this is potentially going to have a big impact on the breadth of applications for these materials.”

MTI Communications: From your standpoint as Champion, has the outcome been worth the considerable effort that has gone into this project?

Minford: “The project has been very successful. It should allow us to do fewer experiments than would be required had we done the experimentation first, then devel-oped the models based on those results. It takes fewer experiments to confirm models than it does to build them from scratch. It’s been efficient. These look like they are fairly good models, but the proof of the pudding is in the tasting,” or in this case, in the testing. n

TOP: Dense ceramic insulation at 500x.

This material has an irregular morphology

which includes fibers, spherical particles,

and sheet-like bodies.

MIDDLE: Fibrous insulation at 500x.

Low-density fibrous insulation has large

void spaces. A binder ‘shot’ particle is

visible in the foreground.

BOTTOM: Dense ceramic insulation

at 500x. This material has an irregular

morphology which can be approximated

as fibers and spheres.

MTI Communications: How did Colorado School of Mines build the models?

Minford: “They did extensive literature searching in terms of what was out there; in terms of different aspects of conductivity and how temperature and pressure

Temperature and pressure

dependence of effective

thermal conductivity for a

highly porous, rigid insulation.

WINTER 2014 | 8

For the second year in a row, AsiaTAC will offer a meeting in a new region. Following

the successful Spring 2013 session, hosted by MTI members in Osaka, Japan, the AsiaTAC Steering Committee is planning a meeting in Chia Yi City, Taiwan. The 2014 event is being organized in collaboration with MTI’s newest member, the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). The spring AsiaTAC meeting will take place May 15-16 at China Petro-leum Corporation’s Refining & Manufacturing Research Institute. According to Jesse Chen, MTI Associate Director, the two major themes for the Taiwan AsiaTAC meeting will be Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI) and General Corrosion Topics in the CPI. The preliminary agenda includes many topics of interest to processing industry engineers, including key-note speeches by Professor Wen-Ta Tsai of National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan and Pradip Khaladkar of DuPont. There will also be several panel discussions covering the major meeting themes, including sessions on CUI Inspec-tion and Mitigations, Introduction to Activities of Corrosion Engi-neering Societies in Asia, and Cor-rosion and Mechanical Properties of Corrosion Alloys. “This meeting will attract chem-ical processing industry members from all over the region, including Taiwan, China, and Japan.” says Chen. He explains that the focus on CUI is generating tremendous interest. ‘It’s getting worldwide attention these days,” he notes. “Dr. Nakahara of Asahi Kasei has done a lot of work using statistical analysis to treat under insulation corrosion data and has developed some very useful correlations.

People may be able to begin to predict and help prevent CUI

with this type of information. Dr. Nakahara will share some of that methodology and analysis at the AsiaTAC Meeting in Taiwan.” Chen mentions that CUI discus-sions will follow and build on the successful exchange that started at MTI’s Osaka, Japan AsiaTAC Meeting. The meeting will also focus on corrosion issues that challenge the CPI in the Pacific region. “This is a big concern in Taiwan and other countries in the region on how to improve the safety and minimize the environmental impacts of the chemical processing plants,” reports Chen. He adds that many companies in Asia will have the opportunity to learn from MTI’s global network and body of experi-ence dealing with CPI corrosion issues. Please visit mti-global.org for more information and to register for the spring (Taiwan) and fall (China) AsiaTAC meetings. The Annual Meeting will take place in Shanghai, China this Fall (September 25-26). Contact jchen@mti-global.org if you have a presentation that you would like the organizers to

consider for either of MTI’s Asia-based events. JSCE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUMMTI staff and members will partic-ipate in the JSCE Symposium to be held in Tokyo, Japan, May 18−20. Dr. Masao Nakahara (Asahi Kasei) reported that this international symposium will cover the following topics:• BasicCorrosion–thissession

will contain mostly fundamental aspects of the corrosion phenomena and presentations will be made by academic researchers and scientists working in this aspect of corrosion science (May 18)

• AtmosphericCorrosion (May 19)

• CPICorrosionIssues(May20)

MTI Associate Director Randy Scheel will make a presentation on the subject of Refractory Al-loys and their corrosion resistance applications in CPI. MTI will also plan to make a presentation to in-troduce itself to the JSCE. In addi-tion, organizers are soliciting more MTI presentations for the third day session. Please contact Jesse Chen at jchen@mti-global.org.

NACE 2014 BEIJING MEETINGNACE’s 2014 Beijing Meeting will include a one-day MTI-spon-sored session on May 22, 2014. Associate Director Jesse Chen reports that the session will include 8 presentations made by MTI members, including a presentation introducing MTI and its activities. In addition, longtime MTI contrib-utor and Project Champion Pradip Khaladkar (DuPont) will deliver a keynote speech at the conference. For more information, visit NACE.org or contact Henry Ye at Henry.Ye@dupont.com. n

AsiaTAC UpdateSpring AsiaTAC Meeting in Taiwan to Focus on Corrosion

China Petroleum Corporation (CPC) will

host AsiaTAC 2014 at the Refining and

Manufacturing Research Institute in

Chia Yi City, Taiwan. RMRI’s Flowmeter

Lab shown below.

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The banner advertisement for MTI’s 2014 EuroTAC Meet-ing has been scrolling across

the MTI web site for more than six months now, enticing members to attend the annual European meet-ing at TNO’s High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Now the conference is just a month away. The packed schedule begins with a tour on Monday, March 24 and concludes with the EuroTAC Business Meeting on Wednesday, March 26, led by Natalie Gelder of BASF. DECHEMA has graciously host-ed the last two EuroTAC Meetings at its Frankfurt, Germany head-quarters. This year, MTI moves outside of that comfort zone, to another intriguing venue. Emory Ford, MTI Associate Director and member of the EuroTAC Organiz-ing Committee, worked with TNO to secure a meeting location with much more to offer than a hotel conference room. Like DECHEMA, TNO is a very active laboratory, working on a multitude of projects that could be of interest to process-ing industry companies. “It’s a great chance to look at TNO’s innovation center,” says Ford, who has arranged the 3-hour tour. “Members might be interested in the work that they are doing on sensors. To be able to monitor what is going on in a chemical plant, hav-ing sensors that can communicate what they detect to your control room is of great value.” He adds that participants will have a chance to glimpse leading-edge technology, such as 3D printers that make one-of-a-kind parts. After Monday’s behind-the-scenes excursion, TNO will share information on some of the other projects that it is work-ing on during special presentations throughout the program. The agenda also includes a preview of and discussion on MTI’s

upcoming 2015 Aging Plants Sum-mit. Executive Director John Aller is in the process of organizing the conference with KCI, publishers of Stainless Steel World magazine and organizers of numerous industry events around the world. One of the KCI directors will make a presentation about the conference. EuroTAC participants will have the unique opportunity to help shape this exciting event, which will fo-cus on many different CPI-critical topics, including a broad spectrum of age-related deterioration phe-nomena that operating companies need to understand to safeguard their plants. The last time that EuroTAC convened, Exxon’s John Houben stirred the crowd by sharing the idea for an international flange standards project. “When you order this material, you can get it specified to different standards, and these standards have different criteria,” reports Ford. “They are working to create one set of cri-teria for the standards, no matter where in world the work is being performed.” Houben will deliver a presentation and make a project proposal at the meeting. Another MTI project with an in-ternational reach, CUI, has bubbled to the surface. Corrosion Under Insulation is a worldwide problem, according to Ford. “We already have a program that is developing be-

tween North America and Asia,” he reports. Ford hopes that by the end of the EuroTAC meeting, all three TACs will be involved in MTI’s effort to better understand, predict and manage CUI. In addition to project discus-sions, EuroTAC will feature its own structured forum, includ-ing a presentation on Inspection Techniques. John Lilley, General Manager at Sonomatic (A division of Becht), will share recent technol-ogy developments for Non-Intrusive Inspection of Process Equipment, specifically on using statistics and corrosion mapping to improve con-fidence in the integrity of vessels and storage tanks. “He will also present advanced ultrasonic and EMAT techniques for piping and flange systems and the use of dynamic response spectroscopy (DRs) and EMAT for high temperature inspec-tions,” according to MTI Associate Director Heather Stine, a member of the EuroTAC organizing team. Ford and Stine have worked with the member-led committee to develop a preliminary agenda that includes several other interesting topics. The full list of presentations and other activities along with reg-istration information (easy-to-use online forms) are available in the members’ area of mti-global.org. Contact the MTI office with any questions regarding the meeting, including help with registration. n

EuroTAC 2014 PreviewPresentations, Projects, and Tour Highlight Busy Schedule

EuroTAC 2014 will take place at TNO’s High Tech Campus, in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

WINTER 2014 | 10

A lot of ground was covered at the 112th AmeriTAC Meet-ing in Savannah, Georgia,

and that wasn’t just by those par-ticipating in MTI’s 5K run/walk. The meeting began with a Duplex Stainless Steels Alloys Seminar on October 28 and concluded with a Board of Directors Meeting, led by new Chair Paul Whitcraft with help from new Executive Director John Aller, on October 31. In all, 81 people representing 38 member companies attended the seminar, project team meetings structured forums, Annual Meeting, and special events. Three PDCs and 18 Project Teams met at AmeriTAC 112. One of those kicked off the Fall session with a well-received metals seminar. Project Team members Poul-Erik Arnvig, Outokumpu; Gary Coates, Nickel Institute; Jim Fritz, TMR Stainless (representing Outokumpu); John Grubb, ATI; and Paul Whitcraft, Rolled Alloys, presented a seminar focused on “Recent Developments in Applica-tion, Standardization, and Welding of Duplex Stainless Steels.” The seminar covered applications, welding, as well as standards and QA/Specifications. In addition to the Annual Meet-ing and forum review, AmeriTAC featured two forum presentations. Marty Klatt, AcousticEye Ltd., presented “Heat Exchanger Tube Inspection Using Two Non-Travers-ing Methods” and Derrick Rogers, Stress Engineering Services Inc., gave a presentation titled “Com-positeRepairforPiping–Design,Analysis, and Testing”. Projects, the lifeblood of MTI, were also center stage. The BOD funded two projects that were approved by members during the Wednesday session. Those included

AmeriTAC ReportSeminar and Special Events Highlight Fall Meeting

TOP: Welding of Duplex Steels Seminar Leaders (left to right) John Grubb, ATI;

Paul Whitcraft, Rolled Alloys; Jim Fritz, TMR Stainless (representing Outokumpu);

Poul-Erik Arnvig, Outokumpu; and Gary Coates, Nickel Institute

BOTTOM: Retiring MTI Executive Director Jim Macki with former Chair Ed Naylor

Corrosion Testing of Extruder Alloys and Intergranular Corrosion and Cracking of CN7M/CN3MCu Cast-ings. In addition, one new potential project team formed during Ameri-TAC 112: Update Pipe Cost Study. Not everything was business as usual. Associate Director Heather Stine organized a very successful 5K Fun Run. The winner of the race is still in dispute as multiple contestants lunged at the finish line at the same time. Photos taken by the MTI Associate Director/photographer Randy Scheel were inconclusive. A rematch may be in

the works for a future AmeriTAC Meeting. MTI also said farewell to one of its pillar members. Executive Di-rector and MTI Fellow Jim Macki retired in December after 17 years leading the staff. Gene Liening (The Dow Chemical Company), Ed Naylor (AkzoNobel), Bob McTamaney (MTI Fellow), Emory Ford (MTI), and many others told stories about Macki during an eve-ning reception and touching trib-ute. All who attended the special event wished Jim and his wife Ruth the very best in their retirement. n

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the actions necessary to achieve those goals,” he says. “A fiduciary responsibility of a Board of Direc-tors is to provide for the integrity of the organization into the fu-ture. This means being aware of potential threats and developing strategies to overcome them if they become reality. Given some of the uncertainties in the CPI, this Board is considering alternative ways to generate revenue, including pos-sible alternative membership levels, certification programs, standards and training. But, again, these are simply ideas under consideration at this point, and a Board should always be open to new ideas. My responsibility is to facilitate a con-sensus among the Board members, whatever that might be.” Like most organizations, MTI has to been able to adapt to a changing world. Despite operating in a challenging environment, the model continues to deliver value to the members whose representatives re-engineer it regularly to suit their companies’ needs. “For chemical producers, I don’t know of a better resource than MTI for solutions to problems involving materials of construction specific to their industry,” observes Whitcraft. “In addition to the pooled knowledge and many research projects we have completed since inception, our discussion forum offers the opportunity to get an immediate answer to materials or equipment performance issues. Several of our members have justified participa-tion in MTI simply on the basis of it being like having an additional senior technical person on staff.” Some companies are spread so thin that there is little or no time to train the junior staff members who will fill increasingly critical roles in their organizations. “In the future, I believe MTI will be invaluable to companies that need to train young-er engineers as they replace retiring personnel,” notes Whitcraft. “One

final point that is often overlooked: participation in a technical organi-zation such as MTI builds leader-ship skills and raises the visibility of the member and the organiza-tion they represent. Belonging to MTI says to your customers, suppli-ers and competitors, ‘We believe in leading-edge solutions, and we are leaders in our industry.’” Creating the leading-edge solu-tions that so many MTI projects generate requires an engaged technical community of experts. “I think it is important for members to recognize that the true value of MTI is not simply as a library of information,” points out Whitcraft. “MTI was founded on the concept of combining resources to com-municate and/or develop common industry expertise or new informa-tion that could benefit the CPI as a whole. The greatest value is re-turned to those who participate in the forums and project teams. Like so many things, the more effort you put in, the greater the return. By making the incremental invest-ment of human participation, a member company is more likely to have a project tailored to deliver the result they need. Greater exposure to your peers naturally increases your knowledge and experience.

The exchange of ideas leads to in-novation. Networking is a powerful tool. It is no wonder that many of our members send more than one person to MTI meetings. This small additional investment beyond the member company fee greatly enhances the return.” He knows all about investing time in industry associations. But this organization is differ-ent, according to Whitcraft. “MTI is certainly unique in terms of the organizations with which I have been involved,” he notes. “One reason is that it is highly focused on serving the needs of one particular arena (materials) in one industry (the CPI). For comparison, my committee involvement at ASTM is focused on nickel alloys and stainless steels, which are covered by just two of ASTM Internation-al’s 143 Technical Committees. “A second factor is the high level of expertise among the MTI mem-bers. Certainly other individual membership technical societies, such as ASTM, NACE Interna-tional and ASM International, have numerous experts in their own right; but it seems to me that all of the individuals participating in MTI projects and forums have a high degree of expertise and most have significant decision-making authority for their organizations. “A third characteristic that sets MTI apart from other organiza-tions that I’ve been a part of is the opportunity to design and fund a research project to address com-mon needs, and the collegial atmo-sphere in which this takes place.” It all adds up. “As I have said before, it is gratifying to simply be associ-ated with MTI,” he concludes. The feeling is mutual. It’s a privilege to have an accomplished, willing industry leader step in and chair MTI’s Board of Directors during a time of great change, with a future of promising opportunities. n

MTI Chair Paul Whitcraft Shares His Vision> CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

Paul Whitcraft , MTI Chair (Rolled Alloys)

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http:/ /www.mti-global.org

Web Site Tips and Tricks

One of the primary benefits of the MTI website is that it provides new tools for the

work that MTI project teams and committees do between TAC meet-ings. At mti-global.org, team mem-bers are able to discuss projects and upload files 24/7, ensuring that their important research studies continue to progress. In this Web Site Tips and Tricks column, MTI staff member Katherine Reinecke covers the ins and outs of partici-pating in MTI’s Project Teams and Committees online, from joining to the availability of information.

PROJECT TEAMSMember company employees with an active profile are able join a project team. Those who wish to join project teams/PDCs can do so by submitting a PT-PDC Form by clicking the following buttons:• FrequentlyUsed(homepage)• JoinProjectTeams

(project team pages)• JoinProjectTeam-PDC

(project menu)

Members can join teams or make changes to selections at any time by accessing the form. Please submit a new form when making new selec-tions or changes to ensure you have the most current form. The MTI

Office updates the Project Team rosters after each AmeriTAC meeting. Your current Project Team/PDC selections are listed in your Profile. Note that you do not have to be a member of the project team to access the project team page or information posted on the project team page. All members have access to project team pages on the web site and any information posted. However, there are benefits to project team membership (online), including meeting notifications, files/minutes posting, and associ-ated team activities. New project team links and in-formation will be announced in the NOW (New on the Web) section of the home page. In addition, all in-formation regarding a Project Team will show up on a web site search and can be accessed accordingly.

COMMITTEES Committees are a collaborative feature of our new website, but are not part of the online project team pages. Only MTI Office Staff are able to set up a Committee. Once a Committee has been activated, any member of that Committee can add other mem-bers. There isn’t a form or request

process for joining these groups. Individuals can contact any mem-ber of the Committee to be added. To receive notification of Com-mittee activities (New Message, New Comment or New File Up-loaded), members can select “Edit Notifications”, which is located un-der “My Profile/My Features/Com-mittees” on the top menu bar. If notifications are not turned on, the member still has access to group’s information via his or her profile as outlined above. Note that messages, files and names of members of a Committee are only available to its members and do not appear in search results and are not available to active MTI members without access. Getting used to these online communities takes a little bit of practice. Visit the web site, and explore your options. If you need help, be sure to contact the MTI Office. We can help walk you through the processes and trouble-shoot any issues that you might be having with these valuable collab-orative tools. n

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PERMIT NO. 751SALEM, OREGON

1215 Fern Ridge Parkway, Suite 206St. Louis, MO 63141-4408http://www.mti-global.org

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