Abstract
The increase in fuel-grade ethanol (FGE) consumption demands efficient and safe storage and transportation. However, depending on the raw material used for ethanol production, stress corrosion cracking (SCC) might be a major concern. This work evaluated the API 5L X70 steel susceptibility to SCC in simulated fuel-grade ethanol (SFGE), corn, and sugar cane FGE. The maximum stress intensity factor (Kmax.) was determined from KR curves, and the stress intensity factor threshold for environment-assisted cracking (KEAC) was obtained from the direct current electric potential difference (DCEPD) versus load-line displacement (LLD) curves. The results showed that Kmax. was weakly affected by the environment (different variants of ethanol), although brittle fracture comprising cleavage-like features, intergranular facets, and secondary cracks was observed for SFGE and corn FGE. Under the specific set of testing conditions adopted here, the parameter KEAC was effective in showing that the API 5L X70 steel is quite sensitive to SCC in SFGE and corn FGE, and not susceptible to this progressive cracking process in sugar cane FGE.
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