Corrosion Analysis of Stainless Steel

Seifedine Kadry
Lebanese International University, Lebanon
E-mail: skadry@gmail.com

Abstract
The article analyses stainless steel resistance to burning products released by heat
burners. The research methodology as well as result findings are presented in the article
as well.
KEY WORDS: stainless steel, corrosion.

Introduction
Ten years ago with the increase of fuel prices, upper combustion burners of solid fuel
were being replaced by lower combustion burners due to a longer burning cycle of
loading and higher coefficient of efficiency. The temperature of smoke, released from
these types of burners is lower than 200 0C. When the products of combustion cool down
on the top of a chimney, water steam condenses [1, 2]. The condensate is made of various
compounds, including sulfur as well. The saturated condensate erodes the chimney and
the soot that sticks in the place, where the condensate forms, blocks the chimney. The
saturated place of the chimney becomes more transcalent and the fume is cooled more
intensively; thus, the process speeds up and lower parts of the chimney saturate with the
condensate as well. These types of troubles could be avoided by fitting in a steel insert
that weighs several kilograms. The insert heats up very fast and the due point is passed
over the period of 10-20 minutes as the air-gap between the chimney and the insert
contains quite a high resistance. However, the majority of stainless steel is acid
nonresistant; and the products of corrosion can include poisonous compounds of
chromium and nickel. In this article, we analyze the corrosion of chimney parts made of
stainless steel under the conditions of acid environment. Several types of stainless steel
were examined.

Why stainless steels?

Corrosion is deterioration of essential properties in a material due to reactions with its
surroundings. Millions of dollars are lost each year because of corrosion [3]. Much of this
loss is due to the corrosion of iron and steel, although many other metals may corrode as
well. The problem with iron as well as many other metals is that the oxide formed by
oxidation does not firmly adhere to the surface of the metal and flakes off easily causing
"pitting". Extensive pitting eventually causes structural weakness and disintegration of
the metal.
Although one of the main reasons why stainless steels are used is corrosion resistance,
they do in fact suffer from certain types of corrosion in some environments and care must
be taken to select a grade which will be suitable for the application. Corrosion can cause
a variety of problems, depending on the applications:

1
  Perforation such as of tanks and pipes, which allows leakage of fluids or gases,
 Loss of strength where the cross section of structural members is reduced by
corrosion, leading to a loss of strength of the structure and subsequent failure,

 Degradation of appearance, where corrosion products or pitting can detract from a

decorative surface finish,

 Finally, corrosion can produce scale or rust which can contaminate the material
being handled; this particularly applies in the case of food processing equipment.

Corrosion of stainless steels can be categorized as one of [4]:

 General Corrosion
 Pitting Corrosion

 Crevice Corrosion

 Stress Corrosion Cracking

 Sulfide Stress Corrosion Cracking

 Intergranular Corrosion

 Galvanic Corrosion

 Contact Corrosion

General Corrosion

Corrosion whereby there is a general uniform removal of material, by dissolution, e.g.

when stainless steel is used in chemical plant for containing strong acids. Design in this
instance is based on published data to predict the life of the component. Published data
list the removal of metal over a year. Tables of resistance to various chemicals are
published by various organizations and a very large collection of charts, lists,
recommendations and technical papers are available though stainless steel manufacturers
and suppliers.

Pitting Corrosion

Under certain conditions, particularly involving high concentrations of chlorides (such as

sodium chloride in sea water), moderately high temperatures and exacerbated by low pH
(i.e. acidic conditions), very localized corrosion can occur leading to perforation of pipes
and fittings etc. This is not related to publish corrosion data as it is an extremely
localized and severe corrosion which can penetrate right through the cross section of the
component. Grades high in chromium, and particularly molybdenum and nitrogen, are
more resistant to pitting corrosion.

2
Pitting Resistance Equivalent number (PRE)

The Pitting Resistance Equivalent number (PRE) has been found to give a good
indication of the pitting resistance of stainless steels. The PRE can be calculated as:

PRE = %Cr + 3.3 x %Mo + 16 x %N

One reason why pitting corrosion is so serious is that once a pit is initiated there is a
strong tendency for it to continue to grow, even although the majority of the surrounding
steel is still untouched. The tendency for a particular steel to be attacked by pitting
corrosion can be evaluated in the laboratory. A number of standard tests have been
devised, the most common of which is that given in ASTM G48. A graph can be drawn
giving the temperature at which pitting corrosion is likely to occur, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Temperature at which pitting corrosion is likely to occur

This is based on a standard ferric chloride laboratory test, but does predict outcomes in
many service conditions.

Crevice Corrosion

The corrosion resistance of a stainless steel is dependent on the presence of a protective

oxide layer on its surface, but it is possible under certain conditions for this oxide layer to
break down, for example in reducing acids, or in some types of combustion where the
atmosphere is reducing. Areas where the oxide layer can break down can also sometimes
be the result of the way components are designed, for example under gaskets, in sharp re-
entrant corners or associated with incomplete weld penetration or overlapping surfaces.
These can all form crevices which can promote corrosion. To function as a corrosion site,
a crevice has to be of sufficient width to permit entry of the corrodent, but sufficiently
narrow to ensure that the corrodent remains stagnant. Accordingly crevice corrosion
usually occurs in gaps a few micrometers wide, and is not found in grooves or slots in
which circulation of the corrodent is possible. This problem can often be overcome by
paying attention to the design of the component, in particular to avoiding formation of
crevices or at least keeping them as open as possible. Crevice corrosion is a very similar

3
mechanism to pitting corrosion; alloys resistant to one are generally resistant to both.
Crevice corrosion can be viewed as a more severe form of pitting corrosion as it will
occur at significantly lower temperatures than does pitting.

Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC)

Under the combined effects of stress and certain corrosive environments stainless steels
can be subject to this very rapid and severe form of corrosion. The stresses must be
tensile and can result from loads applied in service, or stresses set up by the type of
assembly e.g. interference fits of pins in holes, or from residual stresses resulting from
the method of fabrication such as cold working. The most damaging environment is a
solution of chlorides in water such as sea water, particularly at elevated temperatures. As
a consequence stainless steels are limited in their application for holding hot waters
(above about 50°C) containing even trace amounts of chlorides (more than a few parts
per million). This form of corrosion is only applicable to the austenitic group of steels
and is related to the nickel content. Grade 316 is not significantly more resistant to SCC
than is 304. The duplex stainless steels are much more resistant to SCC than are the
austenitic grades, with grade 2205 being virtually immune at temperatures up to about
150°C, and the super duplex grades are more resistant again. The ferritic grades do not
generally suffer from this problem at all. In some instances it has been found possible to
improve resistance to SCC by applying a compressive stress to the component at risk; this
can be done by shot penning the surface for instance. Another alternative is to ensure the
product is free of tensile stresses by annealing as a final operation. These solutions to the
problem have been successful in some cases, but need to be very carefully evaluated, as it
may be very difficult to guarantee the absence of residual or applied tensile stresses.
From a practical standpoint, Grade 304 may be adequate under certain conditions. For
instance, Grade 304 is being used in water containing 100 - 300 parts per million (ppm)
chlorides at moderate temperatures. Trying to establish limits can be risky because
wet/dry conditions can concentrate chlorides and increase the probability of stress
corrosion cracking. The chloride content of seawater is about 2% (20,000 ppm). Seawater
above 50°C is encountered in applications such as heat exchangers for coastal power
stations. Recently there have been a small number of instances of chloride stress
corrosion failures at lower temperatures than previously thought possible. These have
occurred in the warm, moist atmosphere above indoor chlorinated swimming pools where
stainless steel (generally Grade 316) fixtures are often used to suspend items such as
ventilation ducting. Temperatures as low as 30 to 40°C have been involved. There have
also been failures due to stress corrosion at higher temperatures with chloride levels as
low as 10 ppm. This very serious problem is not yet fully understood.

Sulfide Stress Corrosion Cracking (SSC)

Of greatest importance to many users in the oil and gas industry is the material's
resistance to Sulfide stress corrosion cracking. The mechanism of SSC has not been
defined unambiguously but involves the conjoint action of chloride and hydrogen Sulfide,
requires the presence of a tensile stress and has a non-linear relationship with
temperature. The three main factors are Stress Level, Environment and Temperature.

4
Stress Level

A threshold stress can sometimes can be identified for each material - environment
combination. Some published data show a continuous fall of threshold stress with
increasing H2S levels. To guard against SSC NACE specification MR0175 for Sulfide
environments limits the common austenitic grades to 22HRC maximum hardness [5].

Environment

The principal agents being chloride, hydrogen Sulfide and pH. There is synergism
between these effects, with an apparently inhibiting effect of Sulfide at high H2S levels.

Temperature

With increasing temperature, the contribution of chloride increases but the effect of
hydrogen decreases due to its increased mobility in the ferrite matrix. The net result is a
maximum susceptibility in the region 60-100°C. A number of secondary factors have also
been identified, including amount of ferrite, surface condition, presence of cold work and
heat tint at welds.

Intergranular Corrosion

Intergranular corrosion is a form of relatively rapid and localized corrosion associated

with a defective microstructure known as carbide precipitation. When austenitic steels
have been exposed for a period of time in the range of approximately 425 to 850°C, or
when the steel has been heated to higher temperatures and allowed to cool through that
temperature range at a relatively slow rate (such as occurs after welding or air cooling
after annealing), the chromium and carbon in the steel combine to form chromium
carbide particles along the grain boundaries throughout the steel. Formation of these
carbide particles in the grain boundaries depletes the surrounding metal of chromium and
reduces its corrosion resistance, allowing the steel to corrode preferentially along the
grain boundaries. Steel in this condition is said to be "sensitized".
It should be noted that carbide precipitation depends upon carbon content, temperature
and time at temperature. The most critical temperature range is around 700°C, at which
0.06% carbon steels will precipitate carbides in about 2 minutes, whereas 0.02% carbon
steels are effectively immune from this problem.
It is possible to reclaim steel which suffers from carbide precipitation by heating it above
1000°C, followed by water quenching to retain the carbon and chromium in solution and
so prevent the formation of carbides. Most structures which are welded or heated cannot
be given this heat treatment and therefore special grades of steel have been designed to
avoid this problem. These are the stabilized grades 321 (stabilized with titanium) and 347
(stabilized with niobium). Titanium and niobium each have much higher affinities for
carbon than chromium and therefore titanium carbides, niobium carbides and tantalum
carbides form instead of chromium carbides, leaving the chromium in solution and
ensuring full corrosion resistance [6].

5
Another method used to overcome intergranular corrosion is to use the extra low carbon
grades such as Grades 316L and 304L; these have extremely low carbon levels (generally
less than 0.03%) and are therefore considerably more resistant to the precipitation of
carbide.
Many environments do not cause intergranular corrosion in sensitized austenitic stainless
steels, for example, glacial acetic acid at room temperature, alkaline salt solution such as
sodium carbonate, potable water and most inland bodies of fresh water. For such
environments, it would not be necessary to be concerned about sensitization. There is also
generally no problem in light gauge steel since it usually cools very quickly following
welding or other exposure to high temperatures. It is also
the case that the presence of grain boundary carbides is not harmful to the high
temperature strength of stainless steels. Grades which are specifically intended for these
applications often intentionally have high carbon contents as these increases their high
temperature strength and creep resistance. These are the "H" variants such as grades
304H, 316H, 321H and 347H, and also 310. All of these have carbon contents
deliberately in the range in which precipitation will occur [7].

Galvanic Corrosion

Because corrosion is an electrochemical process involving the flow of electric current,

corrosion can be generated by a galvanic effect which arises from the contact of
dissimilar metals in an electrolyte (an electrolyte is an electrically conductive liquid). In
fact three conditions are required for galvanic corrosion to proceed; the two metals must
be widely separated on the galvanic series (see Figure 2), they must be in electrical
contact and their surfaces must be bridged by an electrically conducting fluid. Removal
of any of these three conditions will prevent galvanic corrosion [8, 9].

Figure 2. Galvanic series for metals in flowing sea water.

6
The obvious means of prevention is therefore to avoid mixed metal fabrications.
Frequently this is not practical, but prevention can also be by removing the electrical
contact - this can be achieved by the use of plastic or rubber washers or sleeves or by
ensuring the absence of the electrolyte such as by improvement to draining or by the use
of protective hoods. This effect is also dependent upon the relative areas of the dissimilar
metals. If the area of the less noble material (the anodic material, further towards the right
in Figure 2) is large compared to that of the more noble (cathodic) the corrosive effect is
greatly reduced, and may in fact become negligible. Conversely a large area of noble
metal in contact with a small area of less noble will accelerate the galvanic corrosion rate.
For example it is common practice to fasten aluminum sheets with stainless steel screws,
but aluminum screws in a large area of stainless steel are likely to rapidly corrode.

Contact Corrosion

This combines elements of pitting, crevice and galvanic corrosion, and occurs where
small particles of foreign matter, in particular carbon steel, are left on a stainless steel
surface. The attack starts as a galvanic cell - the particle of foreign matter is anodic and
hence likely to be quickly corroded away, but in severe cases a pit may also form in the
stainless steel, and pitting corrosion can continue from this point. The most prevalent
cause is debris from nearby grinding of carbon steel, or use of tools contaminated with
carbon steel. For this reason some fabricators have dedicated stainless steel workshops
where contact with carbon steel is totally avoided.
All workshops and warehouses handling or storing stainless steels must also be aware of
this potential problem, and take precautions to prevent it. Protective plastic, wood or
carpet strips can be used to prevent contact between stainless steel products and carbon
steel storage racks. Other handling equipment to be protected includes fork lift tines and
crane lifting fixtures. Clean fabric slings have often been found to be a useful alternative
[10].

Passivation and Pickling

If stainless steel does become contaminated by carbon steel debris this can be removed by
passivation with dilute nitric acid or pickling with a mix of hydrofluoric and nitric acids
[11].

Experiment results
The article analyses the corrosion of chimney parts made of stainless steel under the
conditions of acid environment. Several types of stainless steel were examined. The
chemical composition of the types of steel researched is presented in Table 1.

Table 1: Chemical composition of stainless steel

7
The resistance of steels for corrosion was examined using 10 % sulfuric acid with
impurities of sodium chloride. The samples were preserved in the solution for a particular
period and the loss of the weight of a sample was indicated. The software “Statistics” was
used for carrying out statistic calculations.
The results of the analysis are indicated in Fig. 1. The findings clearly indicate that
stainless steel resistance to corrosion in 10% sulfuric acid depends on its chemical
composition. The most resistant steels are the ones, containing titanium and
molybdenum. The total loss of the weight of the sample, including 0, 52 % titanium and
2, 05 % molybdenum, kept in the sulfuric acid for 30 days and night was 1, 97 mg/dm2.
The total loss of weight of stainless steel sample containing 0, 01% of titanium and 0,
32% of molybdenum, examined under the same conditions was135 mg/dm2. The
impurity of chlorides of the solution decreases the resistance of stainless steel to
corrosion.

Figure 1: The loss of chromium, nickel and iron within the samples of stainless steel,
affected by 10 % sulfuric acid with impurities of sodium chloride. a, b, c indicate a
steel sample number.

The existence of titanium and molybdenum in the composition of stainless steel increases
its resistance to corrosion noticeably if the amount of chloride impurities does not exceed
2 %. The most resistant steels have mono-phase structure; however, under the conditions
of higher concentration of chloride impurities, the weight loss of all the composition
samples is similar. The addition of molybdenum decreases the resistance to corrosion of
the steels of 316, when they are affected by nitric acid of higher concentration, but the
amount of nitrogen compounds is small.
The structure of the type of stainless steel, containing a bigger amount of molybdenum
and titanium in its composition (sample 1) is smaller in comparison to sample 3 (Fig. 2)
that contains a smaller concentration of titanium and molybdenum. Usually the types of
steel that have bigger iron granules are less corrosion resistant [12].

8
The chemical composition of sample 1 corresponds to the type of steel 1.4301. The
pictures of parts of the insert for a chimney made of this type of steel, used for 6 years are
displayed in Fig. 3.

Figure 2: The structure of stainless steel samples

Figure 3: The pictures of the chimney insert after 6 years of usage

The picture reveals that the lowest part of the chimney near the cleaning opening was
most corrosion affected. Here the flowing condensate does not dry up for a long time as
hot products of combustion do not pass. The Fig. 3 presents affected spot-welding places.
Steels containing 17 % of chromium are assigned to a poli-ferrite or ferrite class. If the
amount of carbon is close to 0, 1 %, steel can be assigned to a class of semi-ferrites. This
type of steel is marked by a reduced resistance to corrosion in the places of welding
seams. This is partially determined by metal granules, increased due to high temperature
during the process of welding [3]. The intercrystalline corrosion is more easily observed
in these types of steel. The addition of titanium increases corrosion resistance, but the
minimum margin of titanium should be five times bigger in comparison to carbon. Fig. 3

9
presents a part made of this composition of steel, containing 0,08 % of carbon, 0,39 % of
titanium, 18,63 % of chromium, 9,12 % of nickel, 0,30 % of molybdenum, 1,05 % of
manganese, 0,35 % of silicon, 0,25 % of copper, 0,116 % of aluminum, 0,09 % of
vanadium, 0,03 % of niobium , 0.07 % of cobalt and 0,50 % of wolfram. The article
presents the composition of steels indicates applying the method of a spectral analysis
with a spectrum analyzer Belec 2000.

Conclusions
Following the conclusions of the experimental tests:
 The most stable steels in the aggressive environment of condensate are those with
a bigger amount of titanium and molybdenum.
 Chloride ions, existing in combustion, decrease corrosion resistance of chromic-
nickel steels.
 It is necessary to find out for solutions how to increase corrosion resistance of
welded parts.

References
1. Jarman R.T., Turville C.M. Condensation of Flue Gas Vapours in Ducts
and Chimers. - Atmospheric Environment, 1983, V. 17, N 9, p. 1837.
2. Baltenenneck S. Flue Pipes in Stain-steel. - Revue de metallurgie-caniers d
informations techniques, 1994, 91(10), p.1469.
3. http://www.azom.com/details.asp?ArticleID=1257#_Sensitivity_Analysis
4. Steel Glossary. American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). Retrieved on July
30, 2006.
5. Ashby, Michael F.; & David R. H. Jones [1986] (1992). "Chapter 12",
Engineering Materials 2, with corrections (in English), Oxford: Pergamon Press,
p. 119. ISBN 0-08-032532-7.
6. What is Stainless Steel?. Nickel Institute. Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
7. The Recyling of Stainless Steel ("Recycled Content" and "Input
Composition" slides) (Flash). International Stainless Steel Forum (2006).
Retrieved on 2006-11-19.
8. Stainless Steel Fasteners. Australian Stainless Steel Development
Association. Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
9. (31 January 1915) "A non-rusting steel". New York Times.
10. A Proposal to Establish the Shipwreck Half Moon as a State Underwater
Archaeological Preserve (PDF). Bureau of Archaeological Research, Division of
Historical Resources, Florida Department of State (May 2000).
11. ThyssenKrupp Nirosta: History. Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
12. Machinebuilding Materials. T 3, 1967.- 496 p.

10