Austenitic stainless steels are widely used, and are generally successful, in refinery process equipment, particularly in desulfurizers, hydrocrackers, and amine scrubbing units. The austenitic alloys have very good corrosion resistance to high temperature sulfidation to at least 1000°F. The use of these materials also reduces associated problems, such as exchanger fouling and catalyst bed contamination from corrosion products. However, in some instances, the austenitic stainless steels have been found to be susceptible to stress corrosion cracking under conditions involving high stress, changes in metallurgical structure, and the presence of specific chemicals that promote cracking. The chemicals present in refinery streams known to induce stress corrosion cracking in the austenitic alloys are chlorides and polythionic acids. This study is an effort to establish which of the austenitic alloys at the optimum heat treatment required, will give maximum resistance to stress corrosion cracking in refinery environments at the temperature ranges involved and for prolonged time periods.

Subject
Acids, Intergranular stress corrosion cracking, Chloride solutions, Acidity, U bends, Solutions, Mechanical failure, Sensitization, Polythionic acid, Stainless steel, Caustic stress corrosion cracking, Stress corrosion cracking, Chloride stress corrosion cracking
© 1974 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
1974
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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