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 OVERVIEW
The Materials Properties Council was established in
1966 in response to the growing need for valid data
on the engineering properties of metals. Founded by
the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASM International,
ASTM and the Engineering Foundation and supported by
industry, technical organizations, codes and standards
developers, and government agencies, MPC has compiled
a record of notable successes.
As one of the few organizations in the world dedicated
to industrial cooperation on materials performance,
MPC is recognized by, and receives support from, companies
headquartered in Europe, Asia, South America, and the
Middle East, as well as the United States and Canada.
GOALS
- To serve as an international focus identifying
major needs for reliable data on the engineering properties
and performance of materials
- To consider, plan, and direct programs for collecting
and evaluating and, as necessary, generating the needed
data
- To arrange for making the resulting data and analyses
available promptly via reports, publications, correspondence,
or other means
- To keep informed of and to utilize the results
of related activities, both national and international,
in order to avoid duplication of effort
Dedicated to providing industry with the best technology
and the best data that can be obtained on the properties
of materials to help meet today's most advanced concepts
in design and service, life assessment, fitness-for-service,
and reliability and safety
Since 1966, MPC has responded to the needs of industry
and the growth of technology. Its sound approach to
problem solving, and adherence to the principles of
its founding mandate have never varied: MPC develops
the technical basis for making decisions regarding materials
performance. To succeed on a consistent basis, MPC assembles
expert talent, fully defines the problem at hand, sets
goals, directs the required research, validates the
results, and effectively disseminates its developments
to industry and codes and standards organizations for
implementation.
STRUCTURE
The structure of the Materials Properties Council
is streamlined to provide the expertise and fluidity
needed to ensure the success of the programs that are
conducted under the auspices of MPC.
Task Groups and Ad Hoc Committees are organized to
work on particular programs; these groups report through
the appropriate Subcommittees during the course of the
programs and can be disbanded when projects are completed.
The MPC Committee members consist of distinguished
engineers and scientists who represent all facets of
the materials producing, -fabricating, and -using organizations
and those from related fields, as required by a specific
project. The expertise, time, and effort that they contribute
are vital to the Council. They
- facilitate the gathering of existing data
- assess what has already been done in the field
to avoid duplication of effort
- provide materials and samples
- choose test facilities, analysts, or consultants
on the basis of competitive bids
- plan and monitor the programs conducted by the
chosen contractors
- evaluate the results in the light of their cumulative
expertise
- critique and approve all reports for dissemination
MPC projects originate from requests made by industry
in general as well as issues raised by individual companies
or codes and standards developers. Whatever the source,
MPC volunteer participants
- define the scope of work
- identify priorities
- set goals
- organize task groups or ad hoc committees
- develop RFP's
- contribute or raise funds to cover the costs of
the particular programs
- establish schedules
- monitor and review the data collected
- assure that objectives are met
- assist in the dissemination of results in a useful
and unbiased manner whether in publications or at
seminars or workshops
The Council's procedures reflect the fact that the
data and results that MPC generates are used in the
public sector where safety, reliability, and environmental
actors are of vital concern. Accordingly, the recommendations
that the Council makes to industry and codes and standards
developers are reviewed rigorously and before being
released are applied to test cases to assure their validity.
RESULTS AND RETURNS
The Materials Properties Council is a not-for-profit
scientific and technical corporation that is supported
by industry, utilities, materials producers, fabricators,
codes and standards developers, and related technical
organizations.
The support given to MPC is both technical and financial.
Technical support normally consists of committee participation.
Financial support is general or assigned:
- general funds support operations such as ongoing
data collection, routine property studies, developmental
activities, symposia, and workshops
- assigned funds support projects and testing programs
of interest to a specific company or a group of companies
or organizations. Sponsors, i.e., supporters of specific
projects, have access to the work in progress on an
ongoing basis.
The success that MPC has had in organizing collaborative
research is due to the active participation of industry
and research experts and the pooling of funds provided
by many sources. This ensures that MPC can leverage
talent, funds, and time to direct programs that are
technologically at the cutting edge and economically
sound.
By organizing and managing collaborative research
and by leveraging funding, MPC has produced results
that have been of mutual interest and benefit to a variety
of users, leading to further studies which have resulted
in even greater technological progress and savings.
Over the years, the expenditures for MPC programs have
exceeded the equivalent of 100 million dollars in today’s
terms, but the value of the work to industry has been
many times greater.
The benefits realized by supporters of MPC include
- direct access to the results and data generated
by MPC programs, the latest technology, and the best
data on material properties and performance
- the opportunity to participate in decision-making,
in defining the problems, and in prioritizing the
needs of today's technical community
- the opportunity to share expertise and experience
- the opportunity to control expenditures and realize
maximum return on funds spent on research programs,
data collection and analyses, and problem-solving
The Council welcomes and encourages the active participation
of its sponsors and supporters in its activities and
is pleased to provide those interested in supporting
MPC with background information on its resources and
programs either by correspondence or direct contact
at the meetings.
THE FUTURE
Industry is faced with the challenge of understanding
materials behavior to verify safety and reliability.
MPC resources, capabilities in material screening, data
collection, and data analysis and its record of tackling
some of the most perplexing issues in the evaluation
of materials and equipment are geared to this challenge.
MPC places emphasis on the assessment of suitability
for continuing service under severe operating circumstances,
e.g.:
- damage propagation in steels in wet H2S service
- new tests to determine creep damage in elevated
temperature service
- modeling hydrogen attack of chrome-molybdenum steels
- on-line acoustic emission monitoring of hydrogen-induced
cracking
- simulation and prediction of service-induced weld
failures in steam pipe materials
- development of elevated temperature crack propagation
equations for pressure vessel geometries
- expansion of the low-stress creep data base for
heater-tube materials
- improved test and assessment methods for hydrogen-induced
cracking
- materials in high-pressure--high-temperature hydrogen
service
- development of a materials properties database
Responding to the technological needs of the 2000s
and the next decade, the Council is conducting, among
others, the following programs:
- Elevated Temperature Life Assessment (Project Omega)
- Fitness-for-Service for Process Equipment
- Weld Evaluation and Repair of High-Energy (Steam)
Piping
- Hydrogen Attack Susceptibility and Detection for
C-½Mo Steel in Refineries and Ammonia Plants
Other program subjects include demonstration of suitability
for continuing operation; causes and prevention of cracking
in Cr-Mo equipment; methodology for evaluating flaw
growth under hydrogen attack conditions.
A review of these programs shows that each involves
equipment design and integrity and NDE, not simply materials
properties, that each considers the variability of materials
and the resulting uncertainty about performance, and
that each is complicated by or significantly involves
a hostile operating environment. It must be noted that
each of these programs is supported by companies concerned
with reliability and the integrity of equipment in degrading
service or the replacement of hardware.
Contact Dr. Martin Prager at 216-658-3847 phone or 216-658-3854 fax
or at mprager@forengineers.org,
for additional information.
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