WEAR

Wearl%-187(1995)497-507

A study of the erosion-corrosion behaviour of engineering steels for marine pumping applications
A. Neville *, T. Hodgkiess, J.T. Dallas
Department

of Mechanical Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK

Abstract
This paper presents results of a series of electrochernically based tests under liquid and liquid-solid erosion conditions on three generic materials, a C-Mn steel, an austenitic and a duplex stainless steel. Separation of the components of pure erosion, pure corrosion and synergy has been achieved under conditions imposed by an impinging saline flow containing a high burden of suspended solids. Although the pure corrosion component of deterioration on the stainless steels has been shown to be very small, the synergistic processes ensure that corrosion has a significant effect on these martials as well as on the less corrosion resistant C-Mn steel. The results have shown that complex hydrodynamic conditions impose mixed modes of attack since local variations in impingement angle exist. Keywords:

Erosion; Corrosion; Steel; Marine pumping; Pumps

1. Introduction The conjoint action of wear and corrosion in saline aqueous environments is known to cause premature failure of engineering components. The combination of aggressive liquid media and the possibility of high burdens of entrained solid particles in seawater pumping systems associated with the oil and gas industry are representative of some of the most severe operating conditions faced by today s materials. Substantial direct and indirect costs are typically associated with failure of components such as pump impellers, shafts, casings and piping. This is partly due to inaccessibility, particularly in oil field applications, making maintenance and replacement troublesome. However, prior to complete failure which would require components to be replaced, losses in efficiency accompany material deterioration as tolerances are breached and operating conditions deviate from those in the design case. In addition, even small changes in the geometry of a system, brought about by erosion effects, can induce turbulent flows (vortices, eddies etc.) which will, in turn, cause hydrodynamic instabilities in the system. Economic factors have therefore ensured that the volume of study in this field has increased in recent years. In any system susceptible to material through wear, a variety of modes of erosive wear can, and do, prevail depending * Corresponding author. Present address: Weir Pumps Ltd, Alloa Works, Clackmannanshire,

UK.

on the relative movement between the erodent particles and the eroding surface [ 11. As an example, impeller vanes pumping a slurry stream are subjected to directional impingement where the particles in the stream impact the surface at a common angle. In contrast, the dominating mode of wear at the pressure side of the impeller vane is sliding wear. However, common to all modes of wear, whether abrasive, adhesive or erosive, is that they have all been shown [2-51 to be exacerbated by the effects of corrosion. As the basis of a more detailed study into the erosioncorrosion behaviour of a range of low to high-grade alloys in saline environments, the research reported herein represents a focused study into the behaviour of three generic materials under moderately severe conditions of high-velocity liquid impingement and a more severe impinging liquid-solid stream. Under liquid erosion the main aim was to assess, using electrochemical techniques well-established for static corrosion studies and also microscopical examination, the effect of the impinging flow on the corrosion characteristics. In the much more severe conditions of liquid-solid erosion, one objective was to quantify the contributions of erosion and corrosion components, to the total wear weight loss on each material. Another aim was to identify and calculate the synergistic components of wear weight loss reported by previous authors to exist in abrasive and erosive environments [ 6-81. For comparison, reference to previous studies in static 3.5% NaCl at the relevant temperature is necessary.

OO43-1648/95/$09.50 0 1995 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved SSDIOO43-1648(95)07145-8

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2. Materials and methods Materials included in the programme were chosen to be representative of three distinct categories, namely one which actively corrodes under normal service conditions (a carbonmanganese steel), a standard austenitic stainless steel which exhibits passivity under free-corrosion conditions (UNS S3 1603) and a higher-strength, duplex stainless steel (SAF 2205) in which increased Cr and MO levels enhance the resistance to passive film breakdown in many service conditions. The chemical analyses of the as-received materials are given in Table 1. The two experimental conditions consisted of a high-velocity ( 100 m s-l) impinging 3.5% NaCl flow free from suspended solids and a slurry flow (25 m s- ) with combined 3.5% NaCl and 1000 ppm cast silica sand. The angle of impingement was 90 in both cases. Modifications to an existing liquid-solid particle impingement rig (Fig. 1 (a) ) were made to enable in situ electrochemical testing and similar testing in solids-free liquid impingement was conducted on the liquid erosion rig shown in Fig. 1 (b). The temperature of the flow was 50 C in the sand erosion rig. This was chosen for its relevance to oil field injection situations [5] where pumping of aggressive saline streams, containing suspended solid particles, is common. In the liquid erosion set-up, a range of temperatures up to 50 C was studied [ 91 but only those results at 50 C will be reported here. The electrochemical techniques used were DC anodic potentiodynamic polarisation scans together with potentiostatic tests (some of which were designed to apply cathodic protection). The former is a technique which involves shifting the electrode potential of a working electrode (here the specimen in situ) at a predetermined rate ( 15 mV min- ), by use of a potentiostat, to potentials more positive than the nature free-corrosion potential (E,,,) of the specimen. This stimulates the metal dissolution half-reactions on the working electrode. Monitoring the current flow, in the electrochemical cell between the corroding working electrode and an inert auxiliary electrode, as the potential is increased, provides information on the integrity of the passive film and the resistance to passivity breakdown on corrosion resistant materials. This procedure also permits the evaluation of the corrosion current, I_ of actively corroding specimens by the wellknown Tafel extrapolation technique [lo] on potential vs. log current plots. The corrosion rates can be calculated via Faraday s Law from the I,,, data. In this study all potentials were measured against the saturated calomel electrode (SCE) .
Table 1 Compositions Material SAF 2205 UNS S31603 C-Mn steel

FLOWMEIXR

IN SPECIMENS

WARMUPLINE TESTINGLOOP

--)

TO ELECTROCHEMICAL MONITORING EQUIPMENT

(a)

tlgll-Pressure

Pump Water-Jet

+Lowressure

Pump

(b)

RESERVOIR 4

Fig. 1, (a) Liquid-solid

impingement

rig. (b) Liquid jet impingement

rig.

The potentiostatic tests consisted of two types. The first involved shifting the potential from EC,, by a small amount ( +50 mV) with no impinging flow. Once a steady current was attained the impingement by a liquid-solid stream was started and the subsequent progression of the current was recorded. This technique was used to try to assess the effect on the anodic current as the sand hits the specimen surface.

of materials tested Cr 21.56 16.77 MO 3.5 2.4 Ni 5.5 11.72 Mn 1.33 1.7 1.25 N 0.17 S < 0.01 <O.Ol 0.0 1 C 0.026 0.03 0.19 cu Si 0.58 0.3 0.29 Fe bal. bal. bal.

0.01

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499

-500

2 i
-

w^

1
o .___

e+@-++
0. . . . . .._

*+++++-++-+
Q,O__ ___..
0

o..__o..__
_...

_..__ 0..

. . . . . . ...-..

__o._.... Q----.O ~ -

..o.U8~.-- Qo---
+
+ . ..... . ..-O-A.STATIC LIQvn, EROSION SAND EROSION

-6OO-

.g E
B

-700 -

-800 : 0

I 400 Current Fig. 2. Anodic polarisation Density (PA/cm2

I 800

on C-Mn steel at 50 C in NaCl solution.

The second approach involved shifting the potential from E,,, in the negative direction to a value of - 0.8 V (SCE) which represents a potential usually used to cathodically protect steel from corrosion. The cathodic protection (CP) potential, when applied to the specimens under liquid-sand erosion, was first applied during the warm-up period when the flow bypasses the specimens but they are submerged in the 3.5% NaCl solution. Via a system of three tests, all of which could be carried out in the same 1 h test period and therefore under the same conditions, unravelling of the main components contributing to wear, under liquid-solid erosion, could be achieved. These experiments consisted of: 0 total weight losses (TWL) measured after 1 h at the freecorrosion potential; 0 anodic polarisation and Tafel extrapolation to give the corrosion component of the total weight loss ( C) ; 0 weight loss with applied CP to give the pure erosion component (E) of the total weight loss. This enabled, via simple arithmetic, the calculation of the synergistic factor S in 3.5% NaCl containing 1000 ppm suspended solids, impinging the surface at 25 m s- . Specimens for liquid erosion were square sections 20 mm X 20 mm X 2 mm thick. Electrical connection, to enable electrochemical monitoring, was via a wire soldered to the rear. The specimen was then set in a mould of nonconducting epoxy resin with only a 20 mm X 20 mm face exposed to the seawater flow. The liquid-solid particle impingement rig accommodated pin-type specimens 6 mm X 6 mm X 30 mm long. A stainless steel screw with a wire soldered to the end was inserted in a tapped hole on one end of the specimen. The ends were then covered with a shrink fit rubber sleeve to insulate the pin from

the metal holders. The surfaces of the specimens for liquid and liquid-solid impingement tests were abraded on 600-g& abrasive paper prior to testing.

3. Results 3.1. Free-corrosion conditions and DC potentiodynamic polarisation Carbon-manganese steel, under static conditions in 3.5% NaCl actively corrodes at all temperatures relevant to this study and this behaviour was manifested (Fig. 2) during an anodic polarisation scan by a rapidly increasing current as the potential is swept in the positive direction from the starting potential (E,,,) . This material also exhibited active-corrosion behaviour when subjected to the impinging waterjet but the widely different values of E,,, (Fig. 2) in the three experimental conditions were indicative of a substantial influence of the hydrodynamic condition on the corrosion process. Replotting of the data from Fig. 2, in semi-log form suitable for Tafel extrapolation, demonstrated that the effect of the high speed flow impinging on the surface at 90 was to increase the corrosion rate which was further accelerated by the presence of 1000 ppm suspended solids in a lower velocity impinging flow. The resulting corrosion rates are shown in Table 2. In contrast, the stainless steels in many circumstances exhibit good general corrosion resistance due to the presence of a protective passive film on their surface and hence displayed quite different anodic polarisation characteristics to C-Mn steel. Fig. 3 shows the resulting anodic polarisation plot for type UNS S31603 stainless steel in static 3.5% NaCl

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at 50 C. As the potential was scanned from EC,,, very low currents were recorded (due to the passive behaviour) until a potential (generally denoted as the breakdown potential, Eb) of about + 130 mV at which there was a rapid rise in current. This current rise indicated that the passive-film had broken down and that corrosion was readily occurring. For this and other such tests the potential scan was reversed once a predetermined current trip value of 500 PA was reached and, by tracing the Ellrelationship on the reverse scan, information on the repassivation characteristics of the passive film could be obtained mainly by noting the potential, E,, at which the reverse scan crossed the forward scan [ 91. The passive behaviour illustrated in Fig. 3 was exhibited by both stainless steel alloys under static conditions and also when subjected to liquid erosion. In static NaCl solution, the passive behaviour during the anodic polarisation scans from EC,, was maintained for approximately 400 mV and 475 mV respectively by the SAF 2205 and UNS S31603 stainless steels. The influence of the liquid impingement at 100 m s- and 50 C was to cause a positive shift in EC,, (by 80100 mV) and to promote small reductions in the passive potential ranges during anodic polarisation by about 10 mV for the duplex stainless steel and by 80 mV for the UNS S31603 stainless steel. In other words, the consequence of an impinging liquid jet on the surface of the stainless steels was very modest. In contrast, drastic changes in the behaviour of these materials were brought about by the presence of sand particles in the impinging NaCl solution. These changes are clear in Fig. 4, which shows that the free-corrosion potential during liquid-solid erosion was considerably more negative (active) than in static or liquid erosion conditions and, more crucially, demonstrate, via the high currents recorded immediately upon shifting the potential from E,.,,, a transition to active corrosion in these particularly severe, liquid-solid impingement conditions. The rates of active corrosion of the stainless steels during liquid-solid erosion were calculated as described earlier by transferring the relevant data from Fig. 4 to semi-log plots to yield corrosion currents, I,,,, and hence the corrosion rates in mm year- or mg h- from Faraday s laws. The results of these calculations, together with weight loss measurements from the 1 h, sand-liquid tests, are summarised in Table 2. Weight loss measurements clearly established SAF 2205 as the most resistant alloy to deterioration by the joint process of erosion-corrosion under liquid-solid erosion with, as
Table 2 Corrosion Material

Eb

10&l
Current Density @A/cd)

xl

Fig. 3. Anodic polarisation

of UNS S31603 in static NaCl solution at 50 C.

expected, UNS S31603 having a significantly weight loss than the C-Mn steel. 3.2. Visual and microscopical examination

lower total

The visual appearance of specimens after exposure to the various environments correlated well with the findings from the electrochemical monitoring described in the previous section. Thus, corrosion products were readily visible on the surface of the C-Mn steel specimens after exposure under free-corrosion conditions in all three environmental circumstances. Fig. 5 shows the surface of a C-Mn steel sample after 16 h at EC,, under liquid erosion and the copious corrosion products clearly reflect the pattern of the liquid flow on the specimen surface. The arrows indicate the region where thick corrosion products were found and the directionality pattern caused by the flow. The central area (darker in the photograph) where the jet directly impinged the surface remained virtually free from corrosion products. In contrast, exposure of the two stainless steels under similar free-corrosion conditions in static NaCl and also during liquid erosion caused no visible deterioration on the specimen surfaces-indicating that the passive film remained intact in these conditions. Since the anodic polarisation scan imposes conditions on specimens that eventually promote passive-film breakdown (at Eb, Fig. 3)) it was of interest to compare the mechanisms of passive-film breakdown in static NaCl and under liquid impingement during an anodic scan. Examination of the anodically polarised specimens did in fact reveal some differences. Thus in static solution, both stainless steel materials

currents, general corrosion Corrosion

rates and weight losses Corrosion rate ( mg b- ) (calculated from I,,,) 0.8 0.6 3.3 Corrosion rate (mm year- ) (calculated from I,,) 2.21 1.74 9 0.9 0.35 Measured total weight loss after 1 h test (mg) 21.6 27.4 46.7

current &,, (PA)

SAF 2205 UNS S31603 C-Mn steel

750 (liquid-sand erosion) 590 (liquid-sand erosion) 3050 (liquid-sand erosion) 3 15 (liquid erosion) 30 (static-50 C)

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501

(a)

Current density @l&n2)

e 2 PO -250 --....w-...
-...%.---

STATIC LIQUID EROSION SANDEROSION

-750 ! 0 (b)

1 400 Current density (pA/cmP)

I 800

1 30

Fig. 4. (a) Anodic polarisation

on SAF 2205 in NaCI solution at 50 C. (b) Anodic polarisation

on UNS S31603 in NaCI at 50 T.

after anodic polarisation were found to have undergone localised loss of passivity. Pitting was a major feature of attack on the stainless steel specimens after anodic polarisation in liquid erosion conditions but the pit morphology was quite different from that in static conditions with the presence of pits which had developed into the form of comets dictated by the hydrodynamic forces at the mouth of the pit. Moreover, in contrast to static conditions, the specimens after anodic polarisation showed evidence of general surface attack by the presence of a coloured film of much enhanced thickness compared with the transparent passive film known to exist on stainless steels exposed to many aerated aqueous environments. The comets are clearly shown in Fig. 6.

When the erosive jet contained sand particles, the good resistance of the stainless steels to damage under liquid erosion (see two paragraphs above) was completely lost. This feature, found under both natural, free-corrosion conditions and during anodic polarisation, was of course signalled by the previously described electrochemical and weight-loss measurements. In fact, after the standard 1 h tests in liquidsolid conditions, the surface of the stainless steel specimens appeared to be free from corrosion products after bombardment by the powerful slurry stream and only on examination under the light microscope could small fragments of corrosion products be seen, which were easily removed for weighing purposes. Fig. 7 shows, macroscopically, the plan view

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continued to confer protection and only after application of the accelerated test method (DC anodic polarisation) was corrosion deterioration evident. Analysis of the deterioration on the specimens in plan and in cross-section was found to yield information on the relationship between the particle impact angle and the form of material detachment. Hence, variations in the wear profile for each material existed at different points on the test pin, dependent on the flow parameters and direction at each point. Aspects of the flow relating to the type and form of damage are covered in Section 4. 3.3. Potentiostatic tests

Fig. 5. Attack on C-Mn steel after anodic polarisation under liquid erosion at 50 C. Corrosion products shown in lighter band out fromcentre. Direction of the flow across the specimen surface is shown by arrows.

As anticipated, on application of cathodic protection during the liquid-sand erosion test, a reduction in the TWL was recorded for each material which, when combined with the data from the electrochemical measurements, was shown to be greater than that due solely to corrosion. A synergistic effect was therefore identified and quantified. This concept, shown to be strongly material dependent, is best illustrated for each material in diagrammatic form as in Fig. 8 for (a) C-Mn steel, (b) UNS S31603 and (c) SAF 2205. From the anodic polarisation data, it was demonstrated that under the conditions of sand impingement in a 3.5% NaCl stream at 50 C, the corrosion rate of SAF 2205 was greater than that on the standard UNS S31603 austenitic stainless steel (see also Table 2). Although seemingly surprising when the increased alloying of the crucial elements Cr, MO and N is considered, this result was in fact implied from other work [ 91 performed under static conditions at a range of temperatures where it was shown that UNS S31603 behaved mar-

Fig. 6. Pitting in the form of comets after anodic polarisation erosion at 50 C on SAF 2205.

under liquid

23%

Fig. 7. Plan view of SAF 2205 after liquid-solid erosion at 50 C in 3.5% NaCl. Lighter circular region in centre of specimen represents depressed surface of wear scar.

3.6%

? ?Eraslo ?? Corrosion ? ?synergy

of the wear scar produced on SAF 2205, which was comparable to that on the UNS S3 1603 stainless steel after the same test. Clear mechanical removal of the material is evident in Fig. 7. This is in contrast to the situation after up to 16 h under liquid erosion at the free-corrosion potential in the absence of solid particles where the undamaged passive film

Fig. 8. Breakdown of total weight loss under liquid-solid on (a) C-Mn steel, (b) UNS S31603 and (c) SAF2205.

erosion at 50 C

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503

SAF2205 UNS S3160! c-hhsteel

Fig. 9. Cathodic 50 C.

protection

currents

under liquid-solid

erosion in NaCl at

.,,/

reduction in visible attack was observed on application of CP to C-Mn steel as shown in Fig. 10 in contrast to the stainless steel specimens on which, no clear visual difference could be detected with or without CP. In a system of potentiostatic experiments, analogous to those under applied CP, the potential of specimens of each material was held at +50 mV from EC,, and the resulting current recorded. Fig. 11 (a) shows the effect of the sand, sufficiently erosive to mechanically remove the protective film from the stainless steel specimen and render it active. Hence the large increases in current signified the depassivation process. A smaller increase was recorded on the C-Mn steel, not initially possessing a protective film but the total recorded current was greater. Similarly, a fall in current once the liquid-solid impingement was stopped was recorded for each material shown for UNS S3 1603 in Fig. 11 (b) . Another important observation, found during anodic potentiodynamic polarisation and under the anodic potentiostatic tests, was the fluctuation in the current when sand was present in the liquid stream. These fluctuations were studied by means of high frequency measurement of the current via an oscilloscope and were found to be much greater

Fig. 10. C-Mn steel under liquid-solid erosion with applied cathodic protection at - 0.8 V (top) and under free-corrosion conditions (bottom).

ginally better at 50 C-based on electrochemical data and microscopical observations. As important was the observation (Figs. 8 (b) and 8 (c) ) that, in addition, the percentage contribution of corrosion to the total weight loss (C) , on SAF 2205 was greater than on UNS S41603, as also was the synergistic component, S. Hence corrosion, directly or indirectly, attributed to 19.3% and 24.4% of the TWL on UNS S31603 and SAF 2205 respectively. On the C-Mn steel, this figure increased to almost 40%. Cathodic protection currents are known to be indicative of the extent of corrosion susceptibility of the material. Thus high currents required to maintain the CP potential, infer a high corrosion rate would prevail on that material under freecorrosion conditions. Hence, as the progression of the CP currents under liquid-solid erosion shown in Fig. 9 indicates, a dramatic increase in current occurred as the sand in the slurry stream impacted the surface. The magnitude of the CP currents reflected the trend of the anodic polarisation results (Table 2). For instance, the C-Mn steel required a significantly higher current input to maintain the CP potential, signifying the least resistance to corrosion. A significant

0 (a )

10

20 Time (s)

30

6ooo

0 (b)

IO

20 Time (s)

30

Fig. 11. (a) Current progression on UNS S31603 as sand in the liquid stream impacts the surface. Potential + 50 mV from E,_ (b) Decrease in current on stopping the slurry flow on UNS S31603. Potential + 50 mV from E,,,.

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Current (PAI

400

100
0

resistance and indeed much attention has been paid to the relationship between resistance to erosive deterioration and the hardness of the material [ 11,121. The average measured Vickers harnesses of the SAF 2205, UNS S31603 and C-Mn steel were 260 Hv, 204 Hv and 187 Hv respectively. In this work, the resistance to total weight loss and also that due to the purely erosive element has shown a trend that increasing hardness yields a lower weight loss, confirming that there is possibly a benefit to be gained by increased hardness. However, such weight loss: hardness correlations were not apparent when weight loss due to corrosion was considered (Table 2). 4.2. Corrosion aspects The recorded changes in the free-corrosion potential, E,,, under the solids-free liquid jet from that in static conditions can be explained through analysis of the system of anodic and cathodic reactions which dictate the E,,, value. In the liquid erosion condition at 50 C, it has been demonstrated [ 91 that although initiation of localised corrosion on stainless steels occurs more readily than in static seawater, the initial slope of the passive region is not drastically decreased. The anodic reaction of metal dissolution is therefore not the controlling factor for the observed changes in the free-corrosion potential. Hence, to explain the recorded ennoblement of E,,, on each material tested, attention must turn to the progression of the cathodic reaction normally assumed in aerated conditions to be that of oxygen reduction. As discussed elsewhere, [ 93 the enhanced turbulence and fluid mixing caused by the high-velocity flow increases the supply of the cathodic reactant (dissolved oxygen) to the electrode surface. Hence the ennoblement of E,,, is controlled by the significantly depolarised cathodic reaction in which the normal concentration polarisation effects are lessened and the reaction appears to be under solely activation control. In the presence of sand however, the anodic metal dissolution reaction has been shown to be severely depolarised on each material but especially on the stainless steels and therefore contributes to the more active E,,, recorded. Hence on the stainless steels, the cathodic reaction appears to control E,,, under liquid erosion. Conversely under liquid-solid erosion, the anodic reaction assumes a dominant role. On C-Mn steel, the control of E,,, appears to be less easily defined since under each condition, the material is active and the anodic reaction in addition to the cathodic reaction plays an important role. The situation on the stainless steels in this study, once sand was added to the liquid stream, moved horn one where mechanical effects were insufficient to destroy the passivity of the stainless steels to one where the hard silica sand particles were capable of immediately removing areas of the passive film on a repeated basis, revealing unprotected metal on which degradation by corrosion could easily proceed. From the moment the sand in the system reached the surface, the effect was to dramatically increase the anodic current and

02
Time (s)

Fig. 12. Current fluctuations on C-Mn steel (top trace) and SAF 2205 stainless steel (lower trace) under liquid-solid erosion conditions in 3.5% NaCl at 50 C. Potential 50 mV more positive than E,,,.

on the stainless steels than on the C-Mn steel, although again the base current on C-Mn steel was significantly greater. Fig. 12 shows, for SAF 2205, the current fluctuating by as much as 150 pA on a base current of 3OOXKl FA compared with much smaller cyclic variations recorded for the C-Mn steel of 25-30 p.A while the current, at the same potential increase of +50 mV from E,,,, was much greater at 1000 ~.LA.

4. Discussion 4.1. General comments on erosion-corrosion behaviour

This work was undertaken to provide a detailed appreciation of the erosion+orrosion behaviour of a range of ferrous materials and has demonstrated large differences in the extent and mechanisms of deterioration of the three classes of alloys investigated. Thus the substantial differences in the resistance of the stainless steels as opposed to the C-Mn steel in solidsfree erosion corrosion conditions has been clearly demonstrated. Whilst in liquid-solid impingement conditions, all three materials suffer severe attack, the study has illustrated some significant variations of both practical and fundamental interest between the three classes of alloy. The combination of electrochemical, weight loss and visual/microscopical investigations has quantified the three basic features of deterioration, pure corrosion, pure erosion and synergism, in erosion-corrosion conditions. In particular, it has been shown that the contributions of these processes to the overall material loss varies substantially between the different classes of alloy. Significant differences have been shown between the two types of stainless steel. The contribution of corrosion-related processes to the overall deterioration was greater for the higher Cr, MO and N duplex stainless steel than for the UNS S31603 austenitic steel but the total weight loss was lower for the duplex alloy. This points to important influences of metallurgical structure and/or hardness on erosion-corrosion

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505

ORIGINAL SURFACE

STAGNATION POINT

CROSS SECTION OF WEAR SCAR

Fig. 13. Schematic cross sectional representation of the wear scar (top) and actual cross section on C-Mn steel after a one hour test (bottom) under liquid-solid erosion conditions in 3.5% NaCl at 50 C.

general corrosion prevailed over the entire surface. Nevertheless, the higher corrosion rates of C-Mn steel under sand erosion compared with the stainless steels confirmed that a level of alloying confers, to a great extent, increased protection even under severe conditions. This indicates that there are mechanisms of reducing somewhat the severity of corrosion attack on stainless steels effective even when the protective oxide film is mechanically removed. However, comparison of the behaviour of UNS S3 1603 and SAF 2205 stainless steels in this work provides indications that the well established [ 13,141 benefits of Cr, MO and N in enhancing localised corrosion resistance in static and low velocity conditions may not pertain under more severe environmental conditions of elevated temperature [ 93 and especially erosion

impingement. Perhaps this is not surprising since under liquid-solid erosion the repeated bombardment of the surface prevents the establishment of the passive film so that the corrosion resistance will depend on the behaviour of the material in the active state and will not be dictated by the structure and composition of a passive film. Notwithstanding the overall active behaviour discussed above of the stainless steels under liquid-solid erosion, the oscilloscope monitoring, Fig. 12, yielded relatively large current fluctuations. These might be indicative of a process of rapid sequences of repassivation of the passive film in phase with repetitive impact by individual sand particles, repassivation being aided by an abundance of oxygen at the specimen surface due to the highly turbulent hydrodynamic conditions. This notion is given some support by the much smaller current fluctuations in the corresponding tests with C-Mn steel in which case the tiny fluctuations (on a much higher current value) might have been due to extremely minor influences of corrosion products formed and removed under impact. Table 2 shows that in the severe conditions of high suspended solids, high temperature and velocity, the corrosion rate of the SAF 2205 stainless steel is greater than that of UNS S3 1603; moreover Figs. 8 (a) and 8 (b) demonstrate a higher percentage contribution from corrosion and synergy to the total material loss for SAF 2205 than for UNS S3 1603. Despite these trends, the TWL recorded on SAF 2205 was significantly lower than on UNS S3 1603, indicating that the largest factor in material degradation was the erosion element, to which SAF 2205 showed superior resistance. The contrasting situation on C-Mn steel was that almost 40% of the lWL was dependent on the corrosion element, so although the TWL was much greater than on the stainless steels, the percentage deterioration due purely to erosion was much smaller. Here the controlling mechanisms moved from erosion-dominated to a more corrosion-dominated regime. 4.3. Erosion aspects The work involved examination of both the mechanisms by which detachment of eroded material occurs and the resulting morphology of the remaining surface. After testing, examination of specimens cut in cross-section revealed a wear scar of the form of Fig. 13. The pattern clearly shows the hydrodynamic features of the flow in the stagnation point where the erosion damage is least and in the severely eroded perimeter area where high shear forces in the flow moving radially outwards induce a greater thickness loss. Also in plan (Fig. 7)) the wear scar clearly revealed the symmetrical form, showing the central section with lowest metal thickness loss corresponding to where the impinging jet flow separated. At higher magnification the appearance of the eroded area showed clear directionality of metal deterioration, Fig. 14, defining the flow pattern. In the central area where the jet nominally hits the specimen at 90 incidence, the appearance of the metal loss area is in the form of small indentations, in

Fig. 14. Directionality of deterioration visible on the surface of UNS S3 1603 after a 1 h test under liquid-sand erosion in 3.5% NaCl at 50 C.

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c&y,*, VI

&;-

*--

Fig. 15. Fragments of metal detaching from the surface of an eroded sample of UNS S31603 after liquid-solid erosion in 3.5% NaCl at 50 C.

contrast with the directional ploughing of the material and long, deep troughs found at the outer areas where the flow would nominally be in the radial direction. Maximum microhardness values of 348 Hv, 354 Hv and 2.58 Hv were recorded in an outer region of < 50 km of the SAF 2205, UNS S31603 and C-Mn steel respectively. Hence the repeated bombardment produced a significant work-hardening effect on all materials perhaps contributing to an increase in the susceptibility of the surface to cracking. At the lowest points in the wear scar, cracks initiating perpendicular to the surface were detected. The cracks seemed to propagate parallel to the surface and then finally intersected the surface causing segments of metal to detach as in Fig. 15 on UNS S3 1603. Similar effects have been observed on materials not included in this study. The overall form of the cross-section was independent of material but on a smaller scale, clear distinctions were made between the profile of the deteriorated C-Mn steel and the stainless steels. The surface of the C-Mn steel showed a much rougher profile than the stainless steels. On each material, the profile roughness increased away from the stagnation point and ploughing deterioration became evident (Fig. 16). In the central area suffering the least thickness loss, the profile of the surface did not consist of the troughs evident in the more severely eroded area surrounding the stagnation point. In the radial areas immediately out from the centre of the jet impact region the displaced material formed lips and troughs, also reported to occur in liquid erosion after an initial incubation period [ 111, which could be easily removed by subsequent impacts. Possibly the increased rotation and angular momentum of the particles, due to increased particle-particle interactions after initially bombarding the surface, enhanced the extent of deterioration. Consequently, these observations indicate that, under an impinging jet at 90, mixed modes of material deterioration can exist due to the complex array of incident angles imposed by the hydrodynamic conditions. The effect of impingement angle on material degradation on ductile materials under solid particle erosion is well known and documented [ l] and it is suggested that in this work the liquid-solid slurry jet impinging at 90 imposes, on a more localised scale, variations in the type and extent of degradation due to different incident angles. Hence in this one system, analogies can be drawn to

Fig. 16. (a) Smooth area inside wear scar on C-Mn steel after a 1 h test under liquid-solid erosion in 3.5% NaCl at 50 C. (b) Rough area out from stagnation point on C-Mn steel after a 1 h test under liquid-solid erosion in 3.5% NaCl at 50 C.

the observations under solid particle erosion and the complex flow parameters imply that the extent and form of deterioration is strongly dependent on the local incidence angle. In cases involving an impinging liquid flow containing solid particles, it is therefore necessary to consider these variations in conjunction with overall material deterioration.

5. Conclusions This study, of the erosion+orrosion characteristics of three generic materials in conditions relevant to pumping environments, has demonstrated the complexity of erosion+zorrosion in terms of material, environmental and hydrodynamic influences. Thus, in solids-free liquid erosion conditions, the passive film on stainless steels has a crucial role in conferring protection against mechanical removal of material as illustrated by their much superior resistance to degradation than the C-Mn steel. However, in especially severe erosive streams containing solid particles the passive film is ineffective, stainless steels actively corrode and extensive deterioration occurs. In such circumstances, synergism has been identified and quantified for each material and this has facilitated a comparative assessment of the role of erosion, corrosion and synergism on the behaviour of the different

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materials. The potential benefits of this approach, in terms of understanding the fundamental mechanisms and predicting the practical performance, has been illustrated by the identification of significant differences in the behaviour of the two types of stainless steel. A greater role of corrosion related processes on a duplex stainless steel has been shown to be outweighed by a lower susceptibility to the erosive component of the overall damage process. Finally, examination of the material loss processes implied a dependence of the local impact angle on the form of damage observed and the impinging jet at 90 imposed a complex system of hydrodynamic conditions defined by regions of varying intensity of erosive wear.

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Acknowledgements

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The work described in this paper was made possible by means of an EPSRC research studentship awarded through the Marine Technology Directorate to A.N. Thanks are also due to Professor B.F. Scott, Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Glasgow for provision of laboratory facilities and to Weir Pumps Ltd for the use of one of the erosion rigs. Assistance was also received from Mr Stewart Halbert at the Weir Pumps Research Department, Alloa. Financial assistance awarded to A.N. from the Institution of Mechanical Engineering is acknowledged.

[lo] [ 11 I 1121 [ 131

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