Corrosion failures in plate heat exchangers are discussed with reference to equipment design, service conditions and materials of construction. Included are case histories that illustrate service experience.

Plate heat exchangers are chosen over shell-and-tube exchangers for applications requiring superior heat transfer efficiency and compactness, and lower weight. Efforts to maximize their inherent advantages drive plate heat exchanger design toward the use of thin plate sections that require highly corrosion-resistant materials, and narrow flow passages that are conducive to fouling.

Plate heat exchangers in general require extensive sealing along the edges of the plate. Consequently, crevice corrosion may occur under gaskets or adjacent to seal welds. Localized corrosion may be either initiated or aggravated by the leaching of harmful ionic species into crevices from polymer gasket materials. Stress-corrosion failures are also encountered, particularly at cold formed corrugations incorporated into some designs to contain gaskets or to improve heat transfer coefficients.

Subject
Materials, Aluminum, Gaskets, Crevices, Mercury, Heat exchangers, Fluids, Crevice corrosion, Heat, Pitting, Titanium, Chlorides, Liquid metal embrittlement
Keywords:
crevice corrosion, stress corrosion, SCC, gasket, seal weld, amalgam, liquid metal cracking, liquid metal embrittlement, LME, mercury
© 1997 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).
1997
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
You do not currently have access to this content.