qualitypro
Mechanical
- Sep 30, 2003
- 91
We are experiencing frequent failures in the 1st stage diaphragm of compressor since being put into operation last year. The material spec states that it is made of Inconel 718 material. The in situ hardness measured was HRC 34 as against HRC 36. Can a marginally low hardness of the diaphragm really impact the fatigue strength to this degree? The life of this component was quite short. Please share your thoughts as to what could be the potential failure causes for this and remedial actions that could be taken to stop recurrence of this issue. Are there other investigations that need to be done to get to the root cause of this failure?