HCL corrosion of various metal types 1

[mrcheese]

First of all I am not a chemical engineer so some of the terms I use may be incorrect but I will try to get my point across.
I have an HCL gas issue and I am looking for a table that will show at what PPM level corrosion will start of various materials.
The main materials in question are Steel, Stainless Steel, Copper, and Aluminum. I know that there are different grades of all this material that may stand up better or worse to a certain level of HCL. I am just looking for general ROM values.

thanks


Ohm's it not just a good idea, Its the law.

 

[micalbrch]

I ran into a similar questions some months ago but that was about stainless steel only. The attached document was very helpful for me.

 

[mrcheese]

Not exactly what i am looking for but this does help. thanks

Reality means you live until you die. The real truth is nobody wants reality.

 

[metengr]

Better look at these options to fully understand how corrosive this substance is for handling - nothing to fool around with and certaintly not to use marginal materials;

http://www.mersen.com/en/solutions-...orrosion-systems/pure-hcl-gas-production.html

http://us.burkert.com/img_article/US_Chemical_Resistance.pdf

 

[SJones]

The tool that you want is the NACE Cor-Sur database; but, you have to be a NACE member!

Steve Jones
Materials & Corrosion Engineer

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/8/83b/b04

 

[cloa]

PPM in what? You say its a gas so almost any metal will be fine at low temperaures. I think you mean hydrochloric acid- what corrosion rate is start of corrosion?

 

[EdStainless]

http://www.outokumpu.com/applications/corrosion/corrstart.asp

This is a good ref.

These excerpts are from the MTI MS-3 on HCl.
After reading these you will see why there is so much information on SS and Ni alloys in HCl, they are really the only options.
+Aluminum and Aluminum-Based Alloys
Neither aluminum nor any aluminum-based alloys are resistant to any concentration of
hydrochloric acid.
+Iron and Steel
Neither cast iron nor carbon steel is resistant to hydrochloric acid, even dilute concentrations
(<pH 4).
+Copper and Copper-Based Alloys
There are three basic problems with applications of copper and copper-based alloys in
hydrochloric acid:
-High-zinc yellow brasses suffer selective corrosion, i.e., dezincification.
-Dissolved oxygen (DO) or oxidizing contaminants (e.g., Fe+++) cause accelerated
attack.
-Corrosion products of copper are themselves oxidizing agents, cupric ions, so the
attack is autocatalytic if Cu++ can accumulate (as in a recycle stream).
Silicon bronzes such as UNS C64900 (1% Si) and C65500 (3% Si) have slightly better
resistance than other copper-based alloys because of formation of a siliceous film.

Among metals Ta and Pt are the only two that have very high corrosion resistance to hot acid.

There are many non-metallics that work very well in HCl.

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Plymouth Tube

 

[tomwalz]

Metal that has been welded often reacts differently. I have seen vessels where the walls were perfect but the welds had corroded through. Of course that was liquid HCl with 10% HF.

Thomas J. Walz
Carbide Processors, Inc.

http://www.carbideprocessors.com

Good engineering starts with a Grainger Catalog.

 

[mrcheese]

great info thanks all. but my main area of concern is copper and aluminum bus bars that are inside electrical switchgear.

again thanks

Reality means you live until you die. The real truth is nobody wants reality.

 

[EdStainless]

This explains why control cabinets in plating facilities are usually purged.
If you ever drop below the dew point you will see the effect, even from a few hundred ppm.
Silver is very resistant, how about silver plating the Cu?

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Plymouth Tube

 

[blacksmith37]

One you don't see every day: HCl gas + moisture will attack gold contacts ,as in computer connections so that they become unreliable.

 

[TomEun]

Here are some more references.

- NiDI publication #279
- NACE Corrosion Handbook, Volume 2: Hydrochloric Acid, Nitric Acid (#38415)
- Metal Handbook, vol.13
- Others (several Corrosion/Chemical Resistance Tables)

 

[mrfailure]

You should check the Handbook of Corrosion Data, published by ASM. The section on hydrochloric acid includes summaries for various materials (including copper and aluminum as you requested) along with a compendium of published test data for specific alloys and conditions. I find this book one of the most valuable on my reference bookshelf.

Aaron Tanzer

http://www.lehightesting.com