Analysis of the Physicochemical, Mechanical, and Electrochemical Parameters and Their Impact on the Internal and External SCC of Carbon Steel Pipelines

Abstract

The review presented herein is regarding the stress corrosion cracking (SCC) phenomena of carbon steel pipelines affected by the corrosive electrolytes that comes from external (E) and internal (I) environments, as well as the susceptibility and tensile stress on the SCC. Some useful tools are presented including essential aspects for determining and describing the E-SCC and I-SCC in oil and gas pipelines. Therefore, this study aims to present a comprehensive and critical review of a brief experimental summary, and a comparison of physicochemical, mechanical, and electrochemical data affecting external and internal SCC in carbon steel pipelines exposed to corrosive media have been conducted. The SCC, hydrogen-induced cracking (HIC), hydrogen embrittlement, and sulfide stress cracking (SSC) are attributed to the pH, and to hydrogen becoming more corrosive by combining external and internal sources promoting cracking, such as sulfide compounds, acidic soils, acidic atmospheric compounds, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, sodium hydroxide, organic acids (acetic acid, mainly), bacteria induced corrosion, cathodic polarization, among others. SCC growth is a reaction between the microstructural, chemical, and mechanical effects and it depends on the external and internal environmental sources promoting unpredictable cracks and fractures. In some cases, E-SCC could be initiated by hydrogen that comes from the over-voltage during the cathodic protection processes. I-SCC could be activated by over-operating pressure and temperature at flowing media during the production, gathering, storage and transportation of wet hydrocarbons through pipelines. The mechanical properties related to I-SCC were higher in comparison with those reviewed by E-SCC, suggesting that pipelines suffer more susceptibility to I-SCC. When a pipeline is designed, the internal fluid being transported (changes of environments) and the external environment concerning SCC should be considered. This review offers a good starting point for newcomers into the field, it is written as a tutorial, and covers a large number of basic standards in the area.

Assessment of Operational Degradation of Pipeline Steels

“…Among the mechanical properties are mainly the characteristics of strength and plasticity, brittle fracture resistance, and fatigue strength, including fracture toughness and fatigue crack growth resistance [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. From the perspective of the effect of corrosive environments, it is worth determining the change in corrosion resistance and sensitivity of steels to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) and corrosion fatigue [1,4,[10][11][12]. These are the main indicators of the metal state used most often to determine the operational loss of the pipeline serviceability and the increase in risk of unforeseen fractures of pipes in general.…”

Failure analysis of biocomposite sandwich pipe under internal pressure – Application for high pressure gas transportation pipelines MEDGAZ

“…The steel pipes are installed in various environments and have suffered various damage problems [5]. The most prevalent steel pipe defects are: corrosion damage [ [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]], cracks [6][7][8]13,17,[20][21][22], durability [8,13,23,24], maintenance costs [8,14,15,25], buckling and burst piping problems [26].…”

Effect of low dose irradiation of heavy ion on electrochemical corrosion and IASCC behavior of austenitic steel

“…In paper [29][30][31][32][33][34] , the model of slip-film rupture-oxidation is established to illustrate the SCC crack propagation mechanism of LWR components. Quej-Ake L M [35] et al further pointed out the mechanism of pitting corrosion in SCC crack initiation by reviewing the influence of electrochemical parameters of carbon steel pipes on internal and external SCC. SUN Baozhuang [36] et al also believed that stress concentration occurred near pitting pits, which was conducive to the initiation of microcracks.…”