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Corrosion Resistant Alloys in The Oil and Gas Industry: - Selection Guidelines Update
Corrosion Resistant Alloys in The Oil and Gas Industry: - Selection Guidelines Update
Introduction
Corrosion Resistant Alloys (CRAs) are essential for
providing long term resistance to corrosion for many
components exposed to oil and gas production
environments. Components include downhole tub
ing and safety critical elements, wellhead and Xmas
tree components and valves, pipelines, piping, valves,
vessels, heat exchangers and many other pieces of
equipment in facilities. There are many CRAs to select
from, and they can be characterised by their resistance
to specific environments.
Key environmental parameters influencing the corro
sion properties of CRAs are:
Temperature
Chloride ion concentration
Partial pressure CO2
Partial pressure H2S
Environment pH
Presence or absence of Sulphur
Limitations of data
In some cases the diagram limits presented are not nec
essarily real limitations of the alloys but only limits of the
available test data. For example, the limits of temperature
and H2S content for Alloy C-276 and Alloy 625 are essen
tially unknown at this time but the test data stops short
of defining a true limit of applicability.
In order to make these diagrams generic and not specific
to any one manufacturer or alloy producer, the alloys are
referred to by their common names. Each diagram has
three axes, one of which is always temperature. Tempera
ture is one of the most critical factors in the resistance
or susceptibility of any alloy to corrosion and crack
ing. In order to make the temperature scale universal,
degrees centigrade (C) is used. For the other axes the
partial pressure of the gas in the gas phase is provided in
pounds per square inch, psi, since well pressures are most
commonly reported in those units. The chloride content
is reported as sodium chloride since most laboratory
testing has been carried out using NaCl and is reported in
that fashion (i.e. gram/litre or percent).
Cr
Ni
Mo
Fe
Mn
Other
13 Cr (S42000)
to API Standard
13
Bal.
0.8
0.2
S13Cr
(typical ranges)
11-13
1-6
1-2
Bal.
0.2-0.5
0.025
0-2.0 Cu, Ti
trace
316L (S31603)
17
12
2.5
Bal.
0.02
22 Cr duplex(*)
22
Bal.
0.02
0.15
25 Cr duplex (*)
25
Bal.
0.02
0.28
28 (N08028)
27
31
3.5
Bal.
0.01
1.0 Cu
825 (N08825)
22
42
Bal.
0.5
0.03
0.9 Ti, 2 Cu
2550 (N06975)
25
50
Bal.
0.5
0.03
1.2 Ti
625 (N06625)
22
Bal.
0.2
0.05
3.5 Nb
15.5
Bal.
16
0.5
0.01
3.5 W
C-276 (N10276)
* There are a variety of 22 Cr and 25 Cr duplex stainless steels with different UNS numbers.
13 Cr
180
160
120
100
TEMP (C)
140
60
40
20
0
800
1600
CO2 (psi)
300
270
240
210
180
150
120
90
60
30
NaCl (g/l)
No Cracking
pH
80
4
3
SSC
2
1
0
0.0001
0.001
0.01
0.1
10
pH2S (bar)
Super 13 Cr
5
SSC resistance
4.5
pH
3.5
Grade C110
3
Grade C95
No SSC resistance
2.5
0.01
0.1
pH2S (bar)
100
1
NaCl (g/l)
Alloy 316
200
150
TEMP (C)
100
50
0
0
50
1000
100
150
200
NaCl (g/l)
2500
2000
500
1500
CO2 (psi)
200
TEMP (C)
22 Cr
100
50
0
Alloy 28
Alloy 28 has been successfully used for downhole tub
ing and casing liners in many oil and gas wells. Figure 6
shows the envelope of applicability for Alloy 28 which
is highly resistant to environments containing H2S in
contrast to the other stainless steels. Alloy 28 has limited
resistant to SCC from elemental sulphur and applica
tions that contain sulphur in combination with chlo
rides and H2S and thus should be evaluated further in
those environments.
150
0
500
50
100
1000
150
200
1500
NaCl (g/l)
CO2 (psi)
ALLOY 28
250
TEMP (C)
200
150
100
0
500
1000
CO2 (psi)
1500
2000
1500
2000
1000
500
H2S (psi)
ALLOY 825
ALLOY 625
250
TEMP (C)
250
TEMP (C)
200
200
150
100
150
50
0
100
0
1000
2000
2000
2000
3000
1000
1500
CO2 (psi)
1000
500
500
4000
H2S (psi)
1500
4000
3000
CO2 (psi)
1000
H2S (psi)
ALLOY C276
ALLOY 2550
280
300
260
280
220
TEMP (C)
TEMP (C)
240
200
180
260
240
160
0
0
500
0
1000
500
1500
2000
CO2 (psi)
1500
1000
H2S (psi)
220
0
2000
2000
4000
4000
CO2 (psi)
6000
6000
8000
10000
8000
10000
H2S (psi)
Suggested Reading
Comments
While it is NIs hope these diagrams will act as useful
guidelines for the petroleum industry, they take no
responsibility for their use or any applications arising
from them.
A short list of suggested reading is included that con
tains many references that will further aid in selecting
CRAs.
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