Highly alloyed stainless steels for sea water applications

Natural sea water is known as a very aggressive environment which generates pitting and crevice corrosion on stainless steels. High chromium grades with sufficient molybdenum and nitrogen additions (PREN > 40) are generally recognized as resistant materials in natural sea water bu the material selection criteria must be improved to take into account the effect of climatic conditions and of biocide treatments which are widely used as anti-fouling agents in sea water circuits. The paper deals with the localized corrosion properties of conventional stainless steels (SS), duplex and superaustenitic alloys. The results of laboratory investigations conducted in more or less oxidizing chloride containing media are discussed. Then, immersion tests carried out in natural sea waters in different climatic conditions are presented and discussed. Finally, the effect of biocide addition on fouling and its consequences on corrosion is investigated. The results are interpreted taking into account the chemical composition of the stainless steels and biofilm criteria. The results showed the Mediterranean Sea to be slightly more aggressive than other European seas but a PREN value higher than 40 is sufficient for stainless steels to withstand localized corrosion in European natural sea waters. A residual chlorine level around 0.3--0.4 ppm was foundmore » to be very effective to limit the fouling and to avoid localized corrosion on SS. Nevertheless, due to difficulties in monitoring chlorine addition, PREN values higher than 50 are recommended to withstand localized corrosion in treated sea waters. As an example, the new super-austenitic grade 25Cr-22Ni-5.8Mo-1.5Cu-2W-0.45N with a PRENW value of 54 was found to be perfectly resistant to crevice corrosion with 0.5 ppm free chlorine at ambient temperature.« less