Corrosion Resistance of Stainless Steels Exposed to Aggressive Environments with Particles and Water

Recently, drilling in harsher environments had opened a window of opportunities to existing materials. New methodologies are being developed to assess the risk for failure of these materials. The main objective is to predict the performance of these materials in these environments. A thorough understanding of the corrosion properties of the complex fluids (mixtures of fluids that include corrosive agents) on engineering materials is desirable to facilitate safety, long service life and design of equipment. Austenitic SS (304 and 316) are the typical choice for most industries to produce components for downhole applications. However, in harsher conditions, Inconel 625 is used to guarantee longer service life. In the present work, we describe the development of a novel methodology to assess the corrosion and wear resistance of some of these alloys exposed to an aggressive environment containing a mixture of fluids, gases and particulates. The present work describes the corrosion studies (using electrochemical techniques). The effect of flow on the corrosion of some of these materials under very harsh mixtures (that include particulates) was also examined.

REFERENCES

1. ASTM G170-01a, Standard Guide for Evaluating and Qualifying Oilfield and Refinery Corrosion Inhibitors in the Laboratory.

2. ASTM G119-93, Standard Guide for Determining Synergism Between Wear and Corrosion.