Material resistant to HIC, wet sour service 1

[brimmer]

Dear experts,

Can anyone advise of a material resistant to HIC in a wet sour service environment? We have seen hydrogen blistering in the shell of a heat exchanger made of A-285-C and want to replace it with a better material. I would prefer a carbon steel to keep costs lower/materials consistent. Temperatures run to 350 degF and it is assumed the poison is from H2S. Operating design pressure of shell is 184 psig, heat exchanged rate 10.4 MBTU/HR. I was thinking of SA-516 70. Thanks in advance.

 

[rustbuster]

516-70N is the most common for this service.

 

[SJones]

It's not a question of advising a material; it's a question of specifying the correct requirements for the plate in the first place. Think about the chemical composition, the heat treatment condition, and HIC testing amongst other things.

Steve Jones
Materials & Corrosion Engineer

http://www.pdo.co.om/pdo/

 

[strider6]

If you are in Oil & Gas, upstream facilities you'll have to use the Nace / Iso 15156 and follow the requirements for HIC material and testing.

hope this help

Vitt

http://xoomer.alice.it/corrosion

http://corrosionist.blogspot.com

 

[gr2vessels]

brimmer,

Good topic, bad apellative. I feel intruder in the "experts" yard, replying to your post.
The material for your service requirements is specified in details in NACE MR0175/ISO 15156. The carbon steel you have mentioned is also detailed with all the service limitations. The full understanding of the NACE requirements and how to select the complying materials, are of major benefit to you. You will be able not only to select the material, but specify the important fabrication requirements, evaluate the test results, possible to write plant / equipment operating instructions, plan preventative maintenance and testing activities, etc..
You could get expert advice on this forum, but then you'll never learn the selection of the best material for your service. It's not that difficult the "NACE" book. It will open wide you eyes on a fascinating word of material resistance to corrosion..And you'll discover many other books, journals, and how to fill in the time of insomnia..
Cheers,
gr2vessels

 

[stanweld]

brimmer,
Hydrogen blistering results when nacent hydrogen diffuses though the steel until it runs into a planar type discontinuity (non-metallic inclusion). Simply purchasing SA-516 plate without inclusion controls and examining the plate for laminations will not preclude blistering. While you don't state the age of the vessel, SA-285 C manufactured prior to 1980 would have been expected to have plenty of sites for blistering to occur.