ABSTRACT
SINTEF Materials Technology Department for Corrosion and Surface Technology has studied the risk for chloride stress corrosion cracking (CSCC) on high-alloy stainless steels as a dependence on temperature in severe marine environments, where concentrated chloride solutions may occur. A test method has been developed simulating the extreme conditions where sea water is trapped, evaporated and concentrated.
The risk for external CSCC of hot stainless steel pipes and vessels varies very much because of large variations in water wetting and drying. Based on our studies safe temperature limits with respect to chloride stress corrosion cracking for worst case conditions on an offshore platform for the 22% Cr and superduplex stainless steeels are 100°C and 110°C respectively. For the austenitic 6Mo grades and AISI 316L the safe temperature limits are 120°C and 60°C respectively.
