EFFECT OF STRUCTURE AND STRENGTH ON THE CORROSION-RESISTANCE OF CORROSION-RESISTANT STEELS AND ALLOYS IN MEDIA CONTAINING HYDROGEN-SULFIDE AND CHLORINE IONS

Equipment in gas and oil wells comes in contact with media, whose aggr essiveness is determined by the chlorine-ion content, the partial pres sure of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide gas, and temperature. Hydr ogen sulfide corrosion cracking (HSCC), pitting, and general corrosion are basic forms of corrosion failure in these media. In a number of c ases, special structural steels, whose corrosion resistance can be enh anced with inhibition of the medium, are used in fabricating the equip ment. Corrosion-resistant steels should be employed when inhibition is inapplicable, and, in addition to HSCC, the development of pitting an d general corrosion is possible during service. The resistance of aust enitic, austenitic-ferritic, and martensitic steels to HSCC and pittin g are investigated in this paper.