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Long-term operation of steam pipelines in power plants, due to high temperatures and pressures, leads to gradual material degradation and changes in mechanical properties. Therefore, it is necessary to apply appropriate diagnostic methods to assess the current condition of the material and estimate the residual service life of the pipeline. This paper focuses on the application of the Small Punch Test (SPT) method to monitor changes in material properties of steam pipelines during periodic inspections. The SPT method enables the determination of characteristic parameters of mechanical behavior using small samples extracted from components in service. The study analyzes the evolution of material properties as a function of operating time and discusses their relationship with degradation processes occurring in the microstructure during long-term exposure to elevated temperatures. The results contribute to a more accurate estimation of the residual service life of pipelines and to the optimization of operational monitoring strategies.
Keywords: Small Punch Test (SPT), Steam Pipelines, Residual Life Assement, Material Degradation, Mechanical Properties© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.