SUMMARY The purpose of this assignment is to make an engineering-style recommendation concerning a material for a given application.

The purpose is to discuss the specific application and justify the choice based on the requirements of the application and properties of the material. This assignment also discusses the most material that suitable with the application with the properties of the material. For this assignment, I have chosen the CooperNickel application that used wide in the sea-water system. I also identify the problem and solution of the application from the chosen material which is Cooper-Nickel alloy. Copper has excellent resistance to corrosion in the atmosphere and in fresh water. In sea-water, the copper nickel alloys have superior resistance to corrosion coupled with excellent anti-fouling properties. The addition of nickel to copper improves its strength and durability and also the resistance to corrosion, erosion and cavitations in all natural waters including sea-water. The alloys also show excellent resistance to stress-corrosion cracking and corrosion fatigue. The added advantage of resistance to bio-fouling, gives a material ideal for application in marine environments for ship and boat hulls, sea-water and hydraulic pipelines.

10 SEA-WATER SYSTEMS MATERIAL REQUIREMENT 1

Sea-water systems are used by many industries such as shipping, offshore oil and gas production, power plants and coastal industrial plants. The main use of sea-water is for cooling purposes but it is also used for fire-fighting, oil field water injection and for desalination plants. The corrosion problems in these systems have been well studied over many years, but despite published information still occur. The choice of an appropriate material for sea-water system service is a difficult decision that has to be made by a designer prior to specification of the system. Since a broad range of conditions will usually be imposed on the piping material, the impact of sea-water on material performance is determined by numerous variables such as condition of the material, system design, fabrication procedure, various sea-water temperatures and flow regimes, biological activity, and presence of oxidizing compounds. Further factors that are relevant in choosing a material for a sea-water piping system are: physical and mechanical properties, availability, material costs, ease of fabrication and maintenance, anticipated design-life and previous design experience. [1] For piping, low initial cost systems material need to be used. Low corrosion rates in sea-water need to be used in most of sea-water marine engineering. As velocities in local areas of turbulence can easily exceed 3 m/s, even when the design velocity is much lower, corrosion tends to be accelerated in such areas. Also, as pipe thickness tends to increase with diameter, experience in systems with steel pipes show that failures commence first in the smaller diameters and, as the service life increases, failures occur on larger diameters so that repair costs accelerate with time. Many corrosion problems in sea-water systems occur in valves. Often such problems are due to the use of steel or cast iron valves with non-ferrous piping. Although the life of such valves in a steel or cast iron pipe system is short like in two to three years when fitted in an alloy system, it may be less than a year due to the galvanic effects from the piping. The three main components of a valve are the body, valve seats and the shafts or stems; these will be considered separately. It should be noted, however, in a system with a 2
[1]

on materials behavior in sea-water, failures

nominal sea-water velocity of a few meters-per-second flow through the valve, that the valve, depending on its design, may give rise to turbulence and much higher local velocities, particularly when the valves are used for throttling [2]. Centrifugal pumps are normally used in sea-water systems and are often driven by constant speed electric motors. At the normal speed of rotation, the tip speed of the pump impeller can reach 20 m/s and at this velocity, most copper-alloys corrode rapidly in seawater. Fortunately, however, only certain components of the pump are exposed to these high velocities, and apart from these components, copper-base alloys can usually be used successfully in copper alloy system [3]. The proper selection of materials for sea-water system pumps depends on many factors, including service conditions; pump design, abrasive qualities of the sea-water, material availability and cost. Since pump operating conditions and practices determine performance of any material, it is the pump users responsibility to determine and approve acceptable materials for the environment under which the pumps will operate. 20 COOPER-NICKEL MATERIAL USED IN SEA-WATER SYSTEM Over several decades, many thousand of tons of the copper-nickel alloys has been installed in different marine engineering structures for the shipbuilding, offshore, power and desalination industries. Cooper-Nickel alloys are the most suitable material to be used in seawater marine engineering system. These alloys, which have been applied for sea-water piping and heat exchangers, are adopted by various standards. Copper-nickel is predominantly used for military submarine service due to its higher strength and maximum allowable flow rate, as well as low magnetic permeability. However, the wider commercial application of this alloy is limited to a certain extent because of its higher material cost. This alloy reveals a well-balanced combination of characteristics allowing its widespread and economical use. To ensure the further reliable application of the material, there is a need for a detailed discussion on its properties.

Copper-nickel is an alloy of copper that contains nickel and strengthening elements, such as iron and manganese. Copper-nickel is highly resistant to corrosion in sea-water, because its electrode potential is adjusted to be neutral with regard to sea-water. Because of this, it is used for piping, heat exchangers and condensers in sea-water systems as well as marine hardware, and sometimes for the propellers, crankshafts and hulls of premium tugboats, fishing boats and other working boats. [4] 2.1 Cooper Nickel Properties

Properties of Cooper-Nickel Alloys

2.2 Cooper Nickel advantage Resistance to corrosion Galvanic corrosion is the most frequent cause of unexpected corrosion failures in seawater. It has caused failures of ship fittings and deckhouse structures, fasteners, hull plating, propellers, shafts, valves, condensers, and piping. In sea atmospheres, galvanic corrosion causes failures of roofing, gutters, and car trim. The reason that galvanic corrosion causes so many failures is that it can occur any time that two different metals are in electrical contact in sea-water. Since most structures and devices are made of more than one kind of metal, this diversity of materials is common and frequently overlooked in corrosion prevention activities. 4

Cu-Ni alloys have been chosen for their excellent resistance to sea water for several decades. The most critical aspect need to be focused on sea-water system is corrosion. The copper-nickel alloys have good corrosion resistance in the quiescent or stagnant conditions which may occur during the commissioning or overhaul of plant. Where plant is not being used at design speeds some other materials may fail. The corrosion resistance of the alloys is due to the protective surface film formed when in contact with water. On initial immersion cuprous oxide is formed but complex changes occur in sea water which research work is only now beginning to elucidate. General corrosion rates are normally in the order of 0.0025-0.025mm/yr which makes the alloy suitable for requirements in most sea-water marine applications. The corrosion behavior of copper-nickel depends on the presence of oxygen and other oxidizers be-cause it is cathodic to the hydrogen electrode. During the primary corrosion reaction, a cuprous oxide film is produced that is predominately responsible for the corrosion protection. The products of corrosion reactions can react with compounds in sea-water to CuCl23Cu(OH)2 or Cu2(OH)3Cl and in so doing build a multi-layered oxide structure.

Formation rate of corrosion film on Copper-Nickel in sea-water [5]

Resistance to biofouling Marine biofouling is commonplace in open waters, estuaries and rivers. It is commonly found on marine structures including pilings, offshore platforms, boat hulls and 5

even within piping and condensers. The fouling is usually most widespread in warm conditions and in low velocity (<1m/s) sea water. Above l m/s, most fouling organisms have difficulty attaching themselves to surfaces unless already secured. The fouling resistance is due to the copper ions at the surface, making it inhospitable to most marine organisms in slowly moving water. In static conditions there may be some deposition of chemical salts and biological slimes, possibly leading to some weakly adherent fouling but such residues are easily detached from the metals corrosion resistant surface, exposing a fresh, biocidally active surface.
Comparison the appearance of cooper-nickel and steel plates exposed under similar conditions. (a)(c) with different environmental of Cu-Ni in 2 years [5] (a) Splash (b) Tide (c) Submersed (d) Steel at 1 years full immersed condition

The natural corrosion rate of cupronickel of the is sufficient layer. to The decelerate the initial development biofouling cupronickel generates a passive film, which consists of several different layers. A thin cuprous oxide layer, which is formed on the bulk metal, provides sufficient corrosion resistance. The top layers, which are formed during secondary corrosion reactions, have a weakly adherent porous structure which reduces the release rate of cuprous ions. This may allow some organism settlement to take place on the surface in quieter conditions although, due to weak the adherence of the top layers, biofouling sloughs off periodically revealing the protective inner cuprous oxide layer again Good Pitting Resistance 6

The resistance to pitting in clean sea water is good and if pits do occur they tend to be broad and shallow in nature rather than undercut . Readily Weldable and No Post Weld Heat Treatment Required Copper-nickel welded to steel. Easy to Fabricate Hot and cold working techniques can be used but because of the good ductility of the alloy, cold working is normally preferred. The machining properties of the copper-nickel alloys are similar to many other high strength copper base alloys such as the aluminium bronzes, phosphor bronzes, nickel silvers and others without special free machining properties. 10 TYPE OF SEA-WATER APPLICATION, PROBLEM AND SOLUTION Sea-water Pipe Copper-nickel is an established pipe work alloy for many of the sea-water system. The copper-nickels offer excellent resistance to saltwater corrosion which ensures a highly reliable system. Costly repairs during the life of the installation are eliminated and, perhaps more important, so too are the large revenue losses and safety hazards associated with system break downs. Use of copper-nickel tubing can also provide savings on the costs and time required for installation. Its ductility facilitates easy, smooth-contoured bending and its availability in long length coils minimizes the number of expensive joints which are required.
. Copper-nickel used in piping to have excellent saltwater corrosion and save costs

is

straightforward

to

weld

by

conventional welding techniques. The alloy can also be

Sea-water Intakes Sea water is frequently required in large quantities for cooling purposes. One of the problems associated with sea water intakes in marine- or land-based installations is the occurrence of gross marine fouling of the entry. This may be of soft growth, barnacles or bivalves. Not only can this restrict the water flow but the marine fouling may be detached from time to time and cause blockages in heat exchangers or severe mechanical damage to pumps and valves.

Large diameter concrete intake pipe lined with copper-nickel. The outer concrete has fouled heavily while the inside has no growth attached, merely a slime which slips to the pipe bottom

An alternative is to make intakes and intake screens of 90/10 copper-nickel which is resistant to fouling. The intake pipes themselves may be of copper-nickel or large concrete piping may be internally lined either by casting the concrete round a formed pipe or by attaching sheet inside pipes by rivets or adhesive [6].

Boat and Ship Hulls

Copper-nickel sheet was in use for many years to protect the bottoms of woodenhulled ships. Initially this was to prevent attack by boring organisms such as the Teredo worm. The lack of fouling by sea weeds and barnacles was a side effect.

Comparison of fouling of copper-nickel hull of Copper Mariner with steel hull of shipJinotega [7]

Gas Pipelines For certain specialized applications copper-nickel alloys prove the ideal material. For use with high pressure oxygen there is no danger of rapid oxidation of the metal. As shown, it is used for the flanges connecting conventional copper pipes for use in oxygen-blown steelmaking. For use with mobile hydrogen supplies, copper-nickel is also ideal as it is not permeable to hydrogen (as is steel) and has greater fatigue strength than conventional copper.

Small diameter copper-nickel tubes used for fatigue resistant connections to trailer mounted hydrogen cylinders [8]

REFERENCES 1. P. T. Gilbert and W. North ,"Copper Alloys in Marine Engineering Applications.". Trans. of the Institute of Marine Engineers, 1972, page 84, Part 16 520.

2. W. H. Falconer and L. K. Wong, "Sea Water Systems., Institute of Marine Engineers, Materials Section. 1996, page 26 3. B. Todd, Chem, Selection of Materials for high-reliability sea-water handling systems,. and Ind. Supplement, 1977, page 14 - 22 4. Cooper-Nickel, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupronickel 5. CDA/NiDI Publication, "Copper Nickel Alloys, Properties and Applications., 1982, page 20-35 6. W.Schleich, Application of Copper-Nickel for Seawater Service, 1997, page 9-11 7. Stephen J. Morrow, Material Selection for Seawater Pumps, ITT Corporation, Industrial Process , 1998, page 77-80 8. Material Selection in Sea Water System http://www.copper.org/applications/cuni/txt_materials_selection.html

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