Materials Selection Part C

Pressure vessel for brake work recovery

Material Requirements:
A high amount of stress will be present in the walls of the cylinder. To minimise
material costs and increase manufacturing viability the walls should be as thin as
possible - therefore the material should be able to undergo as large amount of stress
as is possible.
The pressure vessel will undergo many cycles of different pressures, the material
should therefore be ductile enough that cracks will not occur and cause fatigue
failure in the vessel.
Able to deform plastically due to ductility characteristic in case of accident loads.
The material expense to produce should be minimized otherwise this option will not
be viable.
The material must be able to be shaped into a pressure tight cylinder.

Chosen Materials:
ATSM A302 Grade B steel

Proposed Heat Treatment:
Firstly the domes and cylinder are to be heat treated after manufacturing so that
they


Material Evaluation:
1) ATSM A302 Grade B steel
This is steel commonly used for pressure vessels. It contains a maximum of 0.2% C, 1.15 -
1.5% Mn and 0.45 0.6% Mo. This is a low carbon and low alloy steel therefore it is more
ductile and less hard. The ductility of the material means it can undergo many cycles of
loading. Typical yield stress is 345 MPa which is quite large and will therefore help minimise
the wall thickness of the cylinder. The material can be welded which allows for ease of
manufacture.

2) ASTM A516 Grade 80 steel
This is steel commonly used for boilers. It has a C% of 0.18, Si% of 0.4 and Mn of 0.95-1.5.
The steel is known for having good weld ability; this means that the production of the vessel
cylinder can be more easily done with this material. The yield stress of this material is 265
MPa which is an acceptable figure. The material has good heat resistance.
3) 16Mo3 steel
This is steel commonly used for boilers at elevated temperatures. The majority of its
composition is 0.12 - 0.2% C, 0.4 0.9% Mn, 0.35% Si, 0.3% Cr and 0.3% Mo. The chromium
present in the material gives it additional anti-corrosive features but will make the material
more expensive. The material has a yield stress of 250MPa which is an acceptable figure.
The material has excellent heat resistance and is considered weld-able steel.

Material Selection:
1) ATSM A302 Grade B steel
This material was selected by elimination. All three materials were acceptable for a pressure
vessel for break work recovery. Each material had a high yield stress value however the
highest was that of the selected steel this will help minimise wall thickness which will not
only save on materials costs but also assist in the heat treatment process since wall
thickness affects the cooling rate of a material. All three materials could be welded which
assists in ease of manufacture. Materials 2 and 3 had additional properties useful for a
boiler (increased heat resistance and corrosion resistance) but this is not useful in the
pressure vessel which will not reach a high temperature or contain very corrosive gas an
exception would be areas of high humidity such as a coastal region, however we are
designing for our current location, Pretoria. By not including unnecessary properties we save
further materials costs which will make the brake work recovery system more economically
viable and therefore a more favoured option.
References:
http://www.efunda.com/glossary/materials/alloys/materials--alloys--steel--
alloy_steel--astm_a302_grade_b.cfm
http://gangsteel.net/product/boiler/a302/GradeB/STEEL/PLATE.html
http://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=4785
http://www.macsteel.co.za/products/pressure-vessel-steels
http://www.oakleysteel.co.uk/16mo3.htm