Mengapa Sebut Stainless Steel Atau Baja Tahan Karat
Mengapa Sebut Stainless Steel Atau Baja Tahan Karat
steel tidak berkarat? Disebut sebagai baja tahan karat (stainless steel )
karena jenis baja ini tahan terhadap pengaruh oksigen dan memiliki lapisan
oksida yang yang stabil pada permukaan baja, Stainless steel bisa bertahan
dari pengaruh oksidasi karena mengandung unsur Chromiun lebih dari
10,5%, unsur chromium ini yang merupakan pelindung utama baja dalam
stainless steel terhadap gejala yang di sebabkan kondisi lingkungan.
Stainless steel di bagi dalam beberapa kelompok utama sesuai jenis dan
porsentase material sebagai bahan pembuatannya. Kelompok/ klasifikasi
stainless steel antara lain adalah sebagai berikut:
Problem disebabkan korosi dapat diatasi dengan menambah ketebalan pipa sebesar kecepatan
korosi dikali tahun lamanya pabrik didesain. Tetapi, jika total ketebalan yang dibutuhkan untuk
mengatasi korosi itu terlalu tebal, pipa akan menjadi sangat tebal dan tidak efektif dalam
pembangunannya. Untuk keadaan ini, pipa dari stainless steel menjadi pilihan selanjutnya.
Selain korosi, suhu fluida juga menentukan material pipa. Semakin rendah suhu, logam akan
menjadi mudah mengalami retakan. Ini karena sifat brittle (getas) logam bertambah pada suhu
rendah . Stainless steel merupakan salah satu yang tahan akan suhu rendah. Karena itu, untuk
cryogenic service (fluida dengan suhu operasi dibawah -196 degC) stainless steel adalah material
yang cocok dibandingkan dengan carbon steel.
Stainless steel sering disebut juga corrosion resistance alloy (campuran logam tahan korosi) dan
tentunya lebih mahal dibandingkan carbon steel. Stainless steel bisa dibagi menjadi beberapa
jenis, contohnya austenitic, feritic, martenistic, duplex dan high alloy stainless steel (campuran
tinggi logam stainless steel). Sayangnya, stainless steel tidak tahan terhadap semua jenis korosi,
terutama korosi yang disebabkan oleh klorida, sulfida serta fluida asam (sour fluid) lainnya.
Untuk sistem pipa yang mengalirkan fluida asam (piping system for sour service) biasanya di
desain berdasarkan standar NACE (National Association of Corrosion Engineers) MR0175.
Mulai tahun 2003, standar NACE MR0175 bersatu dengan ISO 15156 dan yang memiliki syarat
desain yang sulit dibandingkan edisi tahun sebelumnya.
Berdasarkan NACE MR0175/ISO 15156, penggunaan austenitic stainless steel dibatasi oleh
kombinasi dari kadar khlorida, H2S (hydrogen sulfide) dan suhu fluida. Jika austenitic stainless
steel tidak dapat digunakan, maka penggunaan duplex atau high alloy stainless steel merupakan
pilihan selanjutnya. Jika duplex atau high alloy stainless steel juga tidak dapat digunakan, maka
pilihan selanjutnya adalah menggunakan logam campuran nikel seperti incoloy dan inconel.
Semakin tahan terhadap berbagai korosi, semakin mahal harga material tersebut. Untuk
mengurangi biaya, pengaplikasian cladding atau overlay merupakan salah satu alternatif.
Misalnya menggunakan pipa dari carbon steel dengan dilapisi logam mahal pada bagian
dalamnya saja yang bersentuhan langsung dengan fluida sumber korosi akan bisa menekan biaya
tanpa mengurangi ketahanan terhadap korosi.
Pemilihan material ini bukan hanya untuk pipa, tetapi juga berlaku untuk bejana (vessel), katup
(valve) dan elemen pipa lainnya. Untuk katup, walaupun material dari badan katup bisa memakai
carbon steel, tetapi bagian dimana korosi tidak diperbolehkan untuk menjaga kemampuan katup
untuk menyekat (sering disebut sebagai trim, seperti bagian valve seat, stem dan lainnya), maka
penggunaan stainless steel atau logam tahan korosi lainnya menjadi keharusan.
Pada saat melakukan pemilihan material yang sebenarnya, mungkin tidak akan semudah yang
dijabarkan diatas, tetapi secara umum, begitulah proses pemilihan material pada saat mendesain
pabrik industri.
Frequently Used Pipe Material
There are two types of pipe material which is frequently used either in oil and gas
industry, power plant and other industries:
1. Carbon Steel
Carbon Steel is one of pipe material and it is the most widespread of use in the oil
and gas Industry, power plant and other industries. Almost all of these pipe
materials have specifications issued by ASTM (American Society for Testing and
Materials) and ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineering.
There are three types of Carbon Steel are the most widely used, namely:
- ASTM A106, This type has three grades, namely Grade A, B, and C. This grade
refers to the amount of Tensile Strength materials. The amount of Tensile Strength
of ASTM A106 are:
Grade A: 48 ksi
Grade B: 60 ksi
Grade C: 70 ksi
Among the third grade, pipe material which is usually used is ASTM A106 Grade B.
- ASTM A 53: This material is also often used by elements of pipe that are coated by
zinc (galvanized), or often used as an alternative for the A106 type. Grade A53 has
three grades, namely Grade A, B, and C. In addition, A53 also has three types,
namely:
Type S: Seamless
A53 Grade A and B have same Tensile Strength with ASTM A106 Grade A and B.
- ASTM A 333: This material is often used on the fluid having low temperature,
ranging from -50oF.
2. Stainless Steel
Pipes are often categorized in Stainless Steel pipe is actually having the full name of
austenitic stainless steel. But this pipe material is more often known by the name of
Stainless Steel.
Stainless Steel has Grade 18, but type 304L is often used. In essence, Type 304 is
the type that has low carbon content with the aim of strengthening the ability to
withstand corrosion. With the addition of L letters behind his name, the 304L, it
shows that this type has lower carbon content, much lower than just 304.
Thus, in application, there are two types of stainless steel that is commonly known
and used in oil and gas industry and other industries as follow:
- ASTM A312: This standard is used for pipe sizes under 8 inches.
- ASTM A358: This standard is used for pipe sizes above 8 inches.
There are many other types of pipe material is quite often used beside two pipe
materials above (carbon steel and stainless steel) such as:
- Nickel and Nickel Alloy Pipe: example that is widely used is Inconel, Incoloy and
Monel.
Most often we find and see is the pipelines system to deliver water to the houses
made almost entirely of metal and sewerage pipes from plastics material or also
commonly called Polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Pipe has certain size, ranging from the
smallest with diameter of ½ inch to an enormous size so that people can enter into
it, that is a pipe with a diameter of 72 inches or approximately 1.8 meters.
In general, pipe materials that are widely used for piping and its components are
divided into two main categories namely:
Especially for metallic pipe material, this pipe material can be subdivided into two
main groups namely Ferrous and Non-Ferrous pipe material, including nickel, alloys,
copper and aluminum. Finally, from the manifold types of ferrous materials, the pipe
material can again be divided into two general categories:
- Steel
Almost all pipe materials are widely used in oil and gas industry is made of steel,
with the following main characteristics:
- Chemical: major elements (iron for Ferrous Metal), alloying elements (nickel,
chromium, etc.), impurities, and others.
- Micro Structure: atomic structure, phase metallurgy, type and grain size.
3. Material strength needed to hold the weight of fluid contained therein, the weight
of component piping, insulation and the weight of pipe itself.
6. Composition of fluid either gas phase or liquid phase which flow inside pipe.
7. Erosion problem due to the flow of sand which is carried in the fluid process.
8. Corrosive particle that potentially cause corrosion in the pipe such as H 2S, CO2, O2,
etc.
In piping system can be found technical terms such as SMYS (Specific Minimum
Yield Strength) and SMTS (Specific Minimum Ultimate Tensile Strength) which show
yield strength and tensile strength for pipe material respectively. Naming grade in
code API 5L, on some types of pipe material can be sorted by SMYS value to make
easier in the analysis of pipe material selection. But on other grade, naming system
does not depend on SMYS value. The following table below show pipe material in
Code API 5L where the naming of its grade in accordance with SMYS value.
Table 1: Standard API for Pipe Material Grade 5LX
Some criteria should be determined to get right material and suitable for piping
system design. The following below are the criteria that can be used in the analysis
of pipe material selection:
- Weld ability
- Corrosion resistance
Material pipe ability to resist corrosion.
- Availability