THE INFLUENCE OF COMPOSITION UPON SURFACE DEGRADATION AND STRESS CORROSION CRACKING OF THE Ni-Cr-Mo ALLOYS IN WET HYDROFLUORIC ACID

摘要

At concentrations below 60%, wet hydrofluoric acid (HF) is extremely corrosive to steels, stainless steels and reactive metals, such as titanium, zirconium, and tantalum. In fact, only a few metallic materials will withstand wet HF at temperatures above ambient. Among these are the nickelcopper (Ni-Cu) and nickel-chromium-molybdenum (Ni-Cr-Mo) alloys. Previous work has shown that, even with these materials, there are complicating factors. For example, under certain conditions, internal attack and stress corrosion cracking (SCC) are possible with the Ni-Cr-Mo alloys, and the Ni- Cu materials can suffer intergranular attack when exposed to wet HF vapors. The purpose of this work was to study further the response of the Ni-Cr-Mo alloys to HF, in particular their external corrosion rates, susceptibility to internal attack and susceptibility to HF-induced SCC, as a function of alloy composition. As a side experiment, one of the alloys was tested in two microstructural conditions, i.e. solution annealed (the usual condition for materials of this type) and long-range ordered (this being a means of strengthening the alloy in question). The study of external corrosion rates over wide ranges of concentration and temperature revealed a strong beneficial influence of molybdenum content. However, tungsten, which is used as a partial replacement for molybdenum in some Ni-Cr-Mo alloys, appears to render the alloys more prone to internal attack.