Abstract
Erosion-corrosion is an unavoidable material degradation process in flow pipelines transporting abrasive particles with carrier fluids. In this study, the multiphase flow loop apparatus is employed to assess the erosion-corrosion behavior and mechanism relative to AISI 1018 carbon steel (CS) and AISI 304L stainless steel (SS) 90° long radius elbows with the inner diameter of 50.8 mm. Fine silica sand of 50 µm average size was used as a dispersed phase and erosion-corrosion tests were conducted for slug flow conditions. The erosion-corrosion analysis of 90° elbows was determined from its surface morphologies before and after the experiment using confocal and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The direct mass loss was measured to quantify the erosion-corrosion rate of the elbow configurations. Additionally, multilayer paint modeling experiments were performed to relate qualitative inferences on erosion distribution and location with the erosion-corrosion mechanism. It was observed that the erosion or corrosion pitting mechanism prevailed on the 1018 CS elbow surface, and the 304L SS displayed excellent erosion-corrosion resistance properties. Moreover, the erosion-corrosion rate was found to be 4.12 times more in the 1018 CS compared to the 304L SS with the maximum particle impaction identified at the exit of the horizontal-horizontal (H-H) 90° elbow for slug flow.
Highlights
Degradation of flow changing devices due to erosion-corrosion is a serious concern in hydrocarbon and mineral processing industries, especially those involved with solid particle transportation at high conveying velocities
The mass loss of 1018 carbon steel (CS) and 304L stainless steel (SS) is approximately 1.4 times higher in the upper half (UH) section compared to the bottom half (BH) elbow section which may indicate high particle-wall impaction at the top of the elbow configuration, which is consistent with the results evaluated in the preceding section by the multilayer paint modeling method
The investigation of the erosion-corrosion mechanism of AISI 1018 CS and AISI 304L SS long radius 90◦ elbow for erosive slug flow conditions led to the following conclusions: 1
Summary
Degradation of flow changing devices due to erosion-corrosion is a serious concern in hydrocarbon and mineral processing industries, especially those involved with solid particle transportation at high conveying velocities. In comparison to erosion induced damage, the action of cumulative degradation due to erosion and corrosion can enhance the material removal rate of flow devices up to two times [1,2]. Both 304L SS and 1018 CS have excellent mechanical properties and high thermal persistence, which determine their ubiquitous applications in hydrocarbon and mineral processing pipeline systems. It is vital to evaluate the erosion-corrosion mechanism of both materials in order to mitigate induced damage due to erosion-corrosion in practice
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