ABRASION-CORROSION RESISTANCE OF STAINLESS AND WEAR-RESISTANT STEELS FOR OIL SANDS APPLICATIONS

摘要

Oil sands operations may give rise to various corrosion risks such as pitting corrosion, crevice corrosion, microbiologically influenced corrosion and abrasion-corrosion. These risks are mainly related to the chemical composition of the slurry and the presence of abrasive particles or rocks. That is why the corrosion resistance is a critical parameter that has to be taken into account for material choice to avoid regular maintenance of the process equipment. This paper focuses on the abrasion-corrosion resistance of various stainless steels and wear-resistant carbon steels. The abrasion-corrosion tests were conducted by means of an innovative test method in environments containing chlorides in a pH range from 3 to 9. The results show that wear-resistant steels are more resistant to abrasion-corrosion than stainless steels in environments containing a low amount of chlorides when the pH is basic. On the contrary, in more corrosive environments, wear-resistant steels are susceptible to corrosion. In such environments, duplex stainless steels are more resistant to abrasion-corrosion and can be considered as excellent candidate materials for various applications like piping systems for instance.