ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOR OF GLASS-LINED CARBON-STEEL IN THE PRESENCE OFFLUOROPOLYMERS

The environmental behavior of glass-lined carbon steel in hydrobromic acid environments in the presence of fluoropolymers was studied by cor rosion tests. It was found that the glass lining is susceptible to env ironmental degradation when exposed to HBr acid in the presence of flu oropolymers. The most aggressive environment was distilled HBr with PV DF. Auger electron spectroscopy revealed the presence of 0.5 at% fluor in the silicon-rich sediments, observed in all the environments at th e end of the experiments. It is suggested that the fluor which attacks the glass lining was evolved by the decomposition of fluoropolymers.