Engineering Failure Analysis 78 (2017) 87–98

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Engineering Failure Analysis

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engfailanal

Experimental research on the corrosion of X series pipeline

steels under alternating current interference
Yanbao Guo a,b,⁎, Tao Meng a,c, Deguo Wang a,b,⁎, Hai Tan a, Renyang He c
a
College of Mechanical and Transportation Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
b
Beijing Key Laboratory of Process Fluid Filtration and Separation, Beijing 102249, China
c
Pressure Pipeline Division, China Special Equipment Inspection and Research Institute, Beijing 100029, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Many buried oil and gas pipelines are parallel to the high-voltage transmission lines and elec-
Received 24 July 2016 trified railways in a long distance. Alternating current (AC) corrosion of these pipelines are
Received in revised form 9 February 2017 very significant in such cases, and might lead to leakage even serious accidents. Laboratory ex-
Accepted 6 March 2017
periment was carried out through weight-loss method in a simulated soil solution at various
Available online 8 March 2017
AC densities from 0 to 200 A/m2 and frequencies from 10 to 200 Hz. The results indicated
that the corrosion rate increased with the increasing of AC current density. Furthermore,
Keywords: with the increase of AC interference frequency, the AC current involved in the electrode reac-
X series pipeline steel
tion process is decrescent, which caused a lower corrosion rate of pipeline steel. Morphology
Corrosion
and corrosion product investigations explained that a better anti-corrosion behavior of X80
AC interference
Weight-loss method than that for X60 and X70 under AC interference. The investigation results are benefit to pro-
vide a new strategy to forecast and evaluate of the AC-induced corrosion, and design of the
buried X series oil/gas pipelines.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Pipeline transporting is seen as one of the most practical and economically effective mode for transporting dangerous and
flammable substances, such as natural gas and oil, for which road or rail transportation is often impractical [1]. The reliability
and stability of buried pipeline integrity have an impact on energy transportation, national economy and life safety, which has
sparked heated debate. Thus, the safety of pipelines is very important. According to the pipeline accident statistics, corrosion fail-
ure is one of the major contributors to underground pipeline accidents [2]. It is well known that the corrosion of pipeline would
cause the leakage of oil or gas and even serious accident due to its flammable characteristic [3–6].
Because of the geographic limitations, gas pipelines and power lines inevitably produce parallel or intersecting areas, even in
some areas called as “public corridors”. The buried pipeline coatings may have points of failure caused by earthquake, artificial
damage or production process. Provided with high-voltage transmission lines nearby, the buried pipelines are at the risk of AC
corrosion. Furthermore, it has been found that the corrosion of many metallic materials and metal constructions would be accel-
erated in the presence of the AC interference [7,8]. With the rapid development of the electric power, petroleum and transporta-
tion industry, the accelerated corrosion of buried pipelines under the AC stray current interference has subjected more and more
attention [9,10]. The AC interference caused by high-voltage transmission lines or electrified railways can induce serious corrosion
damage on the buried pipelines [11,12]. Especially, the buried pipelines are parallel to high-voltage transmission lines or

⁎ Corresponding authors at: College of Mechanical and Transportation Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China.
E-mail addresses: gyb@cup.edu.cn (Y. Guo), wdg@cup.edu.cn (D. Wang).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2017.03.003
1350-6307/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
88 Y. Guo et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 78 (2017) 87–98

electrified railways in a long distance. When the pipeline coating contains microscopic defects or surface damages, even with the
application of cathodic protection (CP), the corrosion of pipeline would also be very serious under the influence of AC interference
[13,14].
In recent years, pipeline failures caused by AC interference become more common [15,16], many examples can be given to il-
lustrate the harmfulness of AC interference. Thus, the corrosion mechanism researches of AC interference have been paid mount-
ing attention. For example, Gummow et al. [17] investigated the effects of AC density, temperature and AC frequency. It is
reported that AC corrosion rate has the positive correlation with AC density and temperature, and the negative correlation
with AC frequency. Funk and Schoeneich [18] stated that the probability of corrosion rate and pitting appeared increase when
the AC density increases after two years filed research. Bruckner [19] found when the AC density is under 155 A/m2, corrosion
rate is under 3 mpy, and if the AC density increases up to about 775 A/m2, the corrosion rate would also sharply improve to be-
tween 10 mpy and 20 mpy. Other research further demonstrated that the liner relationship between corrosion rate and AC den-
sity through testing the corrosion rate when the pipelines are applied cathodic protection [20]. Moreover, electrochemistry
investigation showed that when the AC density was 20 A/m2, the AC corrosion rate of X60 carbon steel was more than twice
of the natural corrosion rate [21].
In this study, the corrosion behaviors of X60, X70 and X80 buried pipeline steel were investigated under different AC current
densities and frequencies by weight-loss method. Samples were introduced to a simulate soil solution during 50 h and then the
corrosion surface and products characterized by optical microscope, SEM and XRD. Results are benefit to provide a new strategy to
forecast and evaluate the AC-induced corrosion of the buried pipelines.

2. Experiments

2.1. Materials

The material of pipeline steel X60, X70, and X80 are widely used for long-distance oil and gas transportation. The chemical
components (wt%) of three kinds of pipeline steels are listed in Table 1. In this study, the pipeline steel was prepared into cylin-
ders of thickness 6 mm and diameter 8 mm. The work electrode was welded with a coating copper wire on the back. Then, the
working electrode was encapsulated by epoxy resin. In the encapsulating process, the specimen preparation was controlled care-
fully to avoid any grooves and bubbles generating between the epoxy and steel interface. The image and structure of working
electrode is shown in Fig. 1. The area of the bare working electrode is 0.5 cm2. Before the corrosion test, the working electrodes
were firstly grinded gradually using waterproof abrasive paper from 800 to 1500 mesh, until the sample surface presented mirror
without obvious scratches. And then, the specimens were cleaned with acetone and deionized water. Finally, the working elec-
trodes were dried off in a vacuum drying oven and stored into a desiccator for spare.
In consideration of the limitation in the laboratory for simulating the actual soil environment, an electrolyte solution was used
to simulate soil solution. It contained 1200 ppm SO2− 4 (1.77 g/L Na2SO4) and 200 ppm Cl− (0.31 g/L CaCl2). The pH value of sim-
ulated soil solution is 7 (i.e. neutral solution) adjusted using KOH and CH3COOH solutions. All of the chemical reagents were sup-
plied from the Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Beijing Co., Ltd. and used without further purification. All the reagents are analytical
reagents. Deionized water (≥18 MΩcm, Milipore Mili-Q) was used for the preparation of all aqueous solutions, and during the
rinsing procedures.

2.2. Experimental device of corrosion simulation by using weight-loss method

The schematic diagram of equipment is shown in Fig. 2. The equipment consists of AC interference part, capacitance, graphite
electrode, working electrode, electrical resistance, switch, and so on. A DDS function generator (TFG2006) was used as the AC
stray current source. It can control the AC interference current density and frequency while using an adjustable resistance box
synchronously (0–9999.9 Ω). In our testing, a capacitor (45 V, 470 μF) was used in the AC interference unit to block DC signals.
The standard resistance of 10 Ω was used to calibrate the AC current which through the working electrode. In order to reduce the
test error, three working electrodes of pipeline steel were used for a group of parallel tests. The schematic diagram of equivalent
circuit is shown in Fig. 3. As shown in the equivalent circuit, the AC current outflow from the working electrode (bared surface of
pipeline steel) and reflow through the graphite electrode in the corrosion process. This loop can simulate the condition of the AC
interference flowing from pipeline coating lesions to soil.
After 50 h corrosion test, the pipeline steel specimens were dried by putting into drying oven. The macro morphologies of
working electrode surface were recorded by a digital camera (Olympus, E-M5). At the same time, the microstructural features
of the corrosion products and elements were analyzed by the scanning electron microscope (SEM, FEI Quanta200F, USA) with

Table 1
Chemical composition of three kinds of pipeline steels (mass fraction, %).

Specimens C P S Si Mn Cu Al Ni Mo Nb Fe

X60 0.1 0.011 0.015 0.27 1.3 0.16 0.025 0.11 0.1 0.02 Bal.
X70 0.06 0.008 0.010 0.25 1.66 0.20 0.026 0.18 0.1 0.04 Bal.
X80 0.04 0.006 0.002 0.22 1.85 0.23 0.04 0.26 0.29 0.1 Bal.
 Y. Guo et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 78 (2017) 87–98 89

Fig. 1. Structure and appearance of pipeline steel working electrode.

an EDAX accessory. Furthermore, the X-ray diffraction (XRD, Bruker D8 Focus) spectrum was used to investigate the types of cor-
rosion products.
The corrosion products on the electrode surface were cleaned using physical and chemical methods [22]. Firstly, a soft brush
was used to clear away the corrosion products on the electrode surface. Then, the electrode specimens were immersed into
descaling liquid for 10 min. The descaling liquid constituted with 100 mL of HCl (37%, mass fraction), 100 mL of deionized
water and 0.7 g inhibiter of methenamine. The descaling process was carried out repeatedly in order to assure the thorough
cleaning of corrosion products. Finally, the specimens were rinsed in deionized water and dried in a drying oven. Moreover,
the average weight-loss of each group test was measured by electronic balance. The corrosion rate can be calculated as fol-
low:

ΔW
υ ¼ 8:76  ð1Þ
Stρ

where, ΔW is the average weight-loss of electrode specimens, g. S is the bare area of pipeline steel electrode, m2. t is the corrosion
time, h. ρ is the density of pipeline steel, g/cm3. υ is the corrosion rate, mm/a.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Effect of the AC current density on corrosion behaviors

With the experimental device of corrosion simulation using weight-loss method, corrosion behaviors were investigated under
different AC current densities from 0 to 200 A/m2. The AC interference frequency is 50 Hz, and the corrosion test time is 50 h. The
experiments were conducted at room temperatures (22 ± 1 °C).

Fig. 2. Experimental device of corrosion simulation by using weight-loss method.

90 Y. Guo et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 78 (2017) 87–98

Fig. 3. Schematic equivalent circuit of AC current interference for working electrode and graphite electrode.

Fig. 4 shows the surface images of pipeline steel X60 (a), X70 (b), and X80(c) after 50 h corrosion under different AC current
densities, i.e. 0 A/m2, 10 A/m2, 20 A/m2, 50 A/m2, 70 A/m2, 100 A/m2, 150 A/m2, 200 A/m2. It can be seen from the corrosion
morphology that the variation tendency of corrosion degree with the increasing of AC current density is similar for X60, X70,
and X80. When the AC current density is lower than 20 A/m2, the surface corrosion damage is slight as shown in a1–a3, b1–
b3, and c1–c3. It is almost corresponding with the natural state of corrosion for each kind of pipeline steel specimens (a1, b1,
c1). With the AC current density increasing from 50 A/m2 to 100 A/m2, the corrosion is anabatic which causing the more accu-
mulation of corrosion products on the specimen surface (a4–a6, b4–b6, c4–c6). In higher AC current densities (150 A/m2,
200 A/m2), the corrosion degrees of three kinds pipeline steel are deepened obviously as shown in Fig. 4.
It can be found that the corrosion produced film is thickening and desquamating from the specimen surface of X60 and X70
with the increasing of AC current densities. However, the corrosion degree of X80 electrode is weaker than the X60 and X70 spec-
imens. The corrosion produced film on X80 surface is also less and thin compared with that for the X60 and X70 specimens.
Fig. 5 shows the corrosion rates of three kinds of pipeline steels under different AC current densities. The corrosion rate was
calculated by Eq. (1). It can be seen that the corrosion damage aggravated with the increasing of AC interference which also can
be seen from the macro morphology as shown in Fig. 4. For X60 and X70, when the AC current density lowers than 150 A/m2, the
corrosion rate increases as a linear relationship with AC current density approximately. The rising tendency of corrosion rate of
X60 and X70 is a little mitigation from 150 A/m2 to 200 A/m2. However, the corrosion rate of X80 under 20 A/m2 is extremely
equal with the state of natural corrosion. This shows that the AC interference effect on the corrosion of X80 is weak when the
current density below 20 A/m2. With the increasing of AC current density from 20 A/m2 to 100 A/m2, the corrosion rate of X80
rises obviously. However, the growth rate decreases with the further increasing AC current density from 100 A/m2 to 200 A/
m2. Furthermore, the mitigation of corrosion rate of X80 is more obvious than that for X60 and X70. It indicated that X80 steel
has better anti-corrosion behavior than X60 and X70 steels under the AC interference.
In this study, the scanning electron microscope (SEM, FEI Quanta 200F) was used to observe the corrosion surface. The elec-
trode specimens were cleaned and dried after corrosion testing for 50 h. The SEM images of X60 and X80 electrode surfaces were
shown in Fig. 6. At the state of natural corrosion, the scratch caused by the grinding process with abrasive paper also can be seen
from the corroded surfaces as shown in Fig. 6(a1) and (a2). Furthermore, it can be found that some obvious corrosion marks ap-
peared on the X60 electrode surface (Fig. 6(a1)). The X80 electrode surface was relatively smooth excepting a little slight corro-
sion marks as shown in Fig. 6(a2). Under the AC interference current density of 50 A/m2, the pipeline steel surfaces emerged
corrosion obviously, and the corrosion form is mainly uniform corrosion, and, some little corrosion pittings appeared in the elec-
trode surfaces which are shown in Fig. 6(b1) and (b2). Compared with Fig. 6(a) and (b), the corrosion was intensified with the
present of AC interference. With the AC current density increased to 200 A/m2, the honeycomb corrosion phenomenon appeared
in the surfaces which were shown in Fig. 6(c1) and (c2). What is more, the electrode surface appeared more and deeper pitting
under higher AC interference current density. Some gully also can be found from Fig. 6(c1) which indicated that the corrosion
form of X60 under AC interference of 200 A/m2 changed from uniform corrosion to localized corrosion. That is maybe caused
by the AC interference oscillation between the pipeline steel surface and electrolyte solution, which tempted to the localized cor-
rosion of carbon steel electrode [23,24]. Comparing Fig. 6(c2) with (c1), the honeycomb pattern size of X80 electrode is smaller
than that for X60. This shows that the corrosion resistant of X80 steel under higher AC interference is better than X60 steel.

3.2. Effect of the AC current frequency on corrosion behaviors

In order to investigate the effect of AC interference frequency on the pipeline steel, we tested the corrosion behaviors of X60
pipeline steel electrode under 50 A/m2, 100 A/m2 and 150 A/m2 AC interference of different frequencies from 10 Hz to 200 Hz.
The experiments were conducted at room temperature (22 ± 1 °C) for 50 h.

Fig. 4. Macromorphology of pipeline steel working electrode surfaces after 50 h test under different AC interference densities from 0 A/m2 to 200 A/m2. (a1)–(a8):
X60, (b1)–(b8): X70; (c1)–(c8): X80.
Y. Guo et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 78 (2017) 87–98 91
92 Y. Guo et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 78 (2017) 87–98

Fig. 5. Effect of AC current density on corrosion rate of three kinds of pipeline steel.

The corrosion rates of X60 under 50 A/m2, 100 A/m2 and 150 A/m2 AC interference of different frequencies are shown in
Fig. 7. It figures out that the corrosion rates of X60 under 50 A/m2, 100 A/m2 and 150 A/m2 AC interference exhibit similar curves
for different frequencies. The corrosion rate increases with the decreasing of AC interference frequency. Especially, with the AC
interference frequency lower than power frequency of 50 Hz, the corrosion rate enhances observably which figures the aggrava-
tion of corrosion under lower AC interference frequency. The AC interference frequency is mainly 50 Hz which derived from de-
tection results of actual buried pipeline.
When the AC current density is 50 A/m2, the corrosion rate of X60 results shown in Fig. 8 indicate that the corrosion rate of
10 Hz is approximately 1.88 times than that of 50 Hz and 3.21 times than that of 200 Hz. Furthermore, under 100 A/m2 and
150 A/m2 condition, the corrosion rates of 10 Hz are obviously higher than 50 Hz and 200 Hz AC interference. The optical micro-
scopic (OM) surface images of X60 under AC interference 50 A/m2 are shown in Fig. 9. The original surface image of X60 electrode
is also tested as a contrast (Fig. 9(f)). It can be found that the corrosion degree reduced with the increasing of frequency. The cor-
rosion form is mainly localized corrosion (pitting shown in Fig. 9). However, in higher frequency of 200 Hz condition, the pipeline
steel electrode surface is smooth except for some local corrosion marks, as seen in Fig. 9(e). Thus, this shows that while the AC
interference frequency below 50 Hz the corrosion perniciousness to pipeline steel is more serious than that of frequency exceed-
ing 50 Hz.
The corrosion system of pipeline steel electrode and simulate soil solution is not a completely polarized electrode system. The
corrosion process can be expressed as an equivalent circuit which is called Randle circuit [25]. It includes a solution resistance, a
double layer capacitor and a charge transfer (or polarization resistance). The double-layer capacitance is in parallel with the
charge-transfer resistance. That is, the region can be equivalent to the paralleling of a polarization resistance and a capacitor.
The polarization resistance stands for the electrode reaction process, and the capacitor reflects the charge and discharge process
of electric double layer. When the equivalent circuit is inflicted with AC interference, a part of AC current works for the charging
and discharging of capacitor, namely non-Faraday current, and another part of the AC current is involved in the electrode reaction
process, namely the Faraday current. Moreover, the Faraday current is lower than that for charging and discharging current [26].
Then, most of AC interference is involved in the charging and discharging process. When the equivalent circuit is inflicted with
same AC current density of different frequencies, previous studies have indicated that the impedance of the electric double
layer capacitor decreased with the increasing of AC current frequency [27]. The non-Faraday current increased, and the Faraday
current reduced. The AC current which involved in the electrode reaction process decreased with the increasing of AC interference
frequency. Thus, the AC interference frequency influences the size of the AC current which involved in the electrode reaction pro-
cess. In other words, the AC current participates in the corrosion reaction is larger under low frequency, and the corrosion rate of
pipeline steel is higher. On the contrary, it can be seen from Fig. 6 that when the AC interference frequency is higher, the AC cur-
rent involved in the electrode reaction process is smaller which causes a lower corrosion rate of pipeline steel.

3.3. Analysis of corrosion product

From the corrosion rates of the specimens under different AC interference densities, the corrosion degrees of X60, X70, and
X80 under same AC current density are different. The results indicated that the corrosion damage sorted in order of
X60 N X70 N X80.
Furthermore, it can be found that the corrosion products are main claybank or reddish for X series pipeline steels under dif-
ferent AC interference as shown in Fig. 4. This shows the X60, X70, and X80 pipeline steels present similar corrosion products in
 Y. Guo et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 78 (2017) 87–98 93

Fig. 6. SEM images of X60 (a1, b1, c1)and X80 (a2, b2, c2) pipeline steel electrode surfaces after removing corrosion products at different AC current densities
(a) 0 A/m2, (b) 50 A/m2, and (c) 200 A/m2 for 50 h corrosion.

the AC corrosion process. Thus, for the further investigation of element and structure of corrosion products, SEM (with EDAX) and
XRD were used to analysis the corrosion products. Fig. 10 shows the SEM images and EDS of corrosion products under 200 A/m2
for 50 h. The EDS results show that the elements of corrosion products are mostly Fe and O whose atomic percentage are more
than 97%. Therefore, the corrosion products are iron oxides principally. It also can be seen that the structure of corrosion products
is fluffy as shown in SEM images. What is more, from the top scene of Fig. 10(a), (b) and (c), it shows that the corrosion products
94 Y. Guo et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 78 (2017) 87–98

Fig. 7. Curves of corrosion rate for X60 pipeline steel versus AC interference frequency.

are porous. In addition, XRD analysis of corrosion products is shown in Fig. 11. Combine with EDS results, the corrosion products
consist mainly of Fe2O3, Fe3O4 and FeOOH.
The corrosion behavior of pipeline steel in simulate soil solution belongs in oxygen depolarization corrosion [28]. Anodic reac-
tion is the dissolution of iron, and cathodic reaction is the oxygen depolarization. The reactions are shown as follow:

2þ −
Fe→Fe þ 2e ð2Þ

− −
O2 þ 2H2 O þ 4e →4OH ð3Þ

With the Fe2+ diffusing into the simulate soil solution, the following reactions appear:

2þ −
Fe þ 2OH →FeðOHÞ2 ð4Þ

6FeðOHÞ2 þ O2 →2Fe3 O4 þ 6H2 O ð5Þ

4FeðOHÞ2 þ O2 →2Fe2 O3 þ 4H2 O ð6Þ

Fig. 8. Effect of AC interference frequency on corrosion rate of X60 pipeline steel under AC current density 50 A/m2, 100 A/m2 and 150 A/m2.
 Y. Guo et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 78 (2017) 87–98 95

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

(e) (f)

Fig. 9. Optical microscopic images of X60 pipeline steel appearance after 50 h AC corrosion at various current frequencies under AC current density 50 A/m2.
(a) 10 Hz, (b) 20 Hz, (c) 50 Hz, (d) 100 Hz, (e) 200 Hz, (f) original surface (scale is 200 μm).

4FeðOHÞ2 þ O2 →4FeOOH þ 2H2 O ð7Þ

Because of the AC interference direction is alternating variation, it causes the cycle of anodic and cathodic polarization on the
pipeline steel. The surface composition of pipeline steel is induced by AC interference as shown in Fig. 12. In the positive half-
cycle of AC interference, anodic polarization appears on carbon steel electrode as Eq. (2). Then, Fe2+ and OH− in solution combine
and form Fe(OH)2 on electrode surface. However, Fe(OH)2 is astatic and loose. It could transform into Fe3O4 as shown in Eq. (4).
In the negative half-cycle of AC interference, cathodic polarization appears on carbon steel electrode. Fe3O4 is reduced to Fe(OH)2
96 Y. Guo et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 78 (2017) 87–98

Fig. 10. SEM images and EDS results of X60 (a), X70 (b), and X80 (c) steel after corrosion test for 50 h at 200 A/m2 AC current.

as shown in the stage d (Fig. 12). With the increasing of polarization degree, a part of Fe(OH)2 is oxidized into Fe3O4, and the
other part transform into Fe(OH)3 in the next anodic polarization process (Fig. 12e). Thus, the internal layer is black Fe3O4, and
the surface corrosion product is Fe(OH)3. As shown in Fig. 12 g and h, with the further corrosion Fe(OH)3 transforms into
Fe2O3 and FeOOH which are loosened. However, the compact Fe3O4 located in the bottom layer of corrosion products which ben-
efits to the protection of pipeline steel substrate.
Furthermore, the corrosion behavior is attributed to chemical component of material [29]. The corrosion of metal is always
along the boundary of the alloy grain and its adjacent area. However, the corrosion of grain itself is very mild. Aggregation of in-
clusions such as C, P and S in the boundary of grain lead to its potential lower than grain itself. While in thermodynamic, the
lower of equilibrium potential the more active of metal, which explains why the anodic dissolve first in the corrosion process.
 Y. Guo et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 78 (2017) 87–98 97

Fig. 11. Analysis results of XRD of X60, X70 and X80 steel corrosion products under 200 A/m2 AC current for 50 h.

Thus, the contents of C, P, and S will affect the corrosion behaviors of pipeline steel. It can be seen from Table 1 that the contents
of C, P, and S for X80 are lower than X70 and X60. Moreover, the contents of Mn, Ni, Mo, and Nb for X80 are higher than X70 and
X60. Elements of C, P, and S are harmful to the anti-corrosion behaviors of metal. But Mn, Ni, Mo, and Nb are benefit to enhance
the anti-corrosion behaviors of pipeline steel [30]. Because of the above factors, X80 shows a better anti-corrosion performance
than X70 and X60 under the AC interference.

4. Conclusions

The corrosion behaviors of pipeline steel in simulated soil solution under AC interference were investigated by weight-loss
method. After 50 h corrosion process, the corrosion surface and products of pipeline steel were characterized by optical micro-
scope, SEM and XRD. Results indicated that the presence of AC interference accelerated the corrosion of pipeline steel. And the
corrosion rate increases with the increasing of AC current density. Moreover, with the increasing of the AC interference frequency,
the impedance of the electric double layer capacitor decreased, which caused the decrease of the current through the polarization
resistance. That is, the AC current involved in the electrode reaction process is smaller which causes a lower corrosion rate of
pipeline steel. Morphology investigations shown the corrosion of pipeline steel became more and more serious with the increas-
ing of AC interference intensity. In general, the AC interference enhanced localized corrosion. Furthermore, X80 pipeline steel
shows a better anti-corrosion behavior than X60 and X70 under AC interference.

Fig. 12. Modification of pipeline steel surface induced by AC current change at each cycle.
98 Y. Guo et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 78 (2017) 87–98

Acknowledgements

The work is supported by the China Special Funds of the Quality Inspection Public Welfare Industry (no. 201310159) and the
Science Foundation of China University of Petroleum, Beijing (nos. 2462017BJB06, C201602).

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