Erosion—corrosion of 316 stainless steel rods immersed in a bubbling fluidized bed

Abstract A fluidized bed was operated in the bubbling regime with sand to determine the effects of process variables on in-bed metal wastage due to erosion and/or corrosion of immersed 316 stainless steel (SS) rods. Weight loss as a result of erosion was determined by conducting experiments with air at room temperature and high fluidizing velocities (erosion-dominated). Weight loss due mainly to corrosion was determined by carrying out wear tests at 500°C and relatively low gas velocity (corrosion-dominated). by comparing the total weight loss obtained from the tests at high temperature and high gas velocity conditions (erosion—corrosion-dominated) with the sum of weight losses from erosion-dominated and corrosion-dominated studies, it was found that there was a synergistic effect between corrosion and erosion, i.e. erosion and corrosion took place simultaneously and interacted in a way leading to accelerated wear of the 316 SS rods. The wear rates increased with increasing temperature and excess gas velocity and were also affected by rod orientation in that wear rates of vertical rods were less than those of horizontal rods under identical test conditions. In all cases, wear rates were less than 3.0 nm/h in the radial direction.