Fatigue and corrosion fatigue behavior of 13Cr and duplex stainless steel and a welded nickel alloy employed in oil and gas production

Abstract

AbstractThe materials used in off‐shore oil and gas production, e.g. in risers, are often exposed to cyclic loads from the water movement because of their contact with seawater. These factors acting together can develop a corrosion fatigue (CF) process. A duplex and a 13% chromium (13Cr) wrought stainless steel (SS) and a welded nickel base alloy Inconel 625 were tested at different cyclic load magnitudes in an eccentric fatigue machine type. The specimens were tested in the presence of a corrosive environment at low loading frequencies (0.3 Hz). The medium used was an aqueous solution with 115.000 ppm of chloride, pH adjusted to 4, and CO2 bubbling inside the solution during the test. The end of the test was determined in maximum 500.000 cycles (23 days for frequency of 0.3 Hz) if no fracture occurred before. In the 13Cr steel the fissure seems to propagate in a uniform unique path, while in the duplex steel the crack changes the direction when passing from the ferritic to austenitic grains. The propagation speed seems to be different in the ferrite and in the austenitic structures. Among the materials tested the Inconel 625 alloy, even being in the welded condition, showed higher CF strength than the SSs; 13Cr shows better results when compared with the duplex steel, even though the last one would be more corrosion resistant.