Problems of selection of corrosion-resistant steels and alloys in oil and gas industry for operating conditions

Abstract

Corrosion-resistant steels and alloys have a number of unique properties. This allows them to be used in various industries. Despite their name, they are to some extent subject to various types of corrosion and corrosion-mechanical damage. This article discusses cases of corrosion damage of products made of corrosion-resistant steels and alloys in the oil and gas industry. The reasons of material failure can be incorrect exploitation of material, low-quality material of products, and incorrect selection of material for operating conditions. For each group of failure causes the examples from open sources and from the practice of the team of authors of this work are considered. The paper substantiates the importance of preliminary laboratory studies of corrosion-resistant materials and their testing with simulation of environmental factors. It is necessary for reasonable choice under specific operating conditions. It is shown that in practice the reasonable choice of corrosion-resistant materials is not always given due attention, so the seemingly economically favorable solutions may turn out to be incorrect. The main focus is made on the practical side of the issue in order to avoid such problems in the future. The relevance of the work is confirmed by the recent acute problem of substitution of foreign steel grades.