CORROSION FAILURE ANALYSIS OF COPPER HEAT EXCHANGER BY USING A NON-DESTRUCTIVE TECHNIQUE

Heat exchanger is a device that operate in a higher and lower temperature. In this study, a shell and tube heat exchanger has been observed and identified the period of operational to analyze its failure under corrosion. Temperature is the corrosion factors that give influences in many parameter such as pH and concentration of metal. The heat exchanger tubes used were made of copper. NDT method namely; Infrared (IR) thermal imaging, Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) and pH verification were used in this study to determine the corroded surface area that occur on the copper tube and shell heat exchanger. Infrared (IR) thermal imaging detect the corroded or defected surface area by provides rapid visual thermal appearance of difference temperature results. IR thermography provides colorful images of samples where local changes in surface temperature indicate subsurface defects. Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) determined the copper concentration in the water samples that flow internal and external of copper tube.