Commentary on Standards Development for Selection and Qualification of HSC-Resistant Materials in Subsea Service with Cathodic ProtectionAvailable to Purchase

As a companion document to MR21525, this Technical Report provides results, review and commentary on many investigations of HSC and includes important literature data, references, background information, service experience and related standards that were utilized in the development of the AMPP MR21525. Most of the information in this Technical Report covers findings from HSC field experience and HSC data from brine/CP exposure tests or from other cathodic charging experiments. It is important to note, in the use of MR21525 and in the review of data contained herein, that HSC can also be induced from hydrogenating environments and conditions other than from just from CP exposure alone. A non-exhaustive list of such conditions is presented later in this Technical Report.

This report is important as a reference guide for those wishing to understand the background information and experience used in the development of the MR21525 standard and its elevated importance because of several component failures in high strength materials and recent near-miss, in-service incidents associated with HSC. These recent events were primarily in bolting/fasteners/studs in drill-through equipment operating subsea under cathodic protection, but as shown herein, HSC failures have also occurred in other subsea materials and components over decades of subsea service experience. The findings presented in this Technical Report were developed to support member-driven standardization activities that were initiated in AMPP to better define material requirements for HSC-resistant metallic materials for subsea service with cathodic protection.