Materials for Reformer Furnace Tubes. History of evolution

The paper discusses progress that has been made over the past sixty years in increasing the service life of centrifugally cast, creepresistant tubes operating in reformer furnaces. Attention was mainly focused on the principles of selection of the chemical composition of castings to improve their creep behaviour. The reasons accounting for withdrawal of tubes from service were indicated. Examples of chemical composition and mechanical properties obtained in creep-resistant Ni-Cr cast steel used by the leading European tube manufacturers were stated. Trends in current research aiming at further improvement of the tube performance characteristics were mentioned.