The examined surfaces of a group of ERW

specimens were grounded with 1000grit

emery paper and other surfaces are sealed.
Then the specimens were exerted at
20mA/cm
2
current and polarized for 48
hours in a 3.5wt% NaCl aqueous solution.
The grooving corrosion sensitivity
coefficient, , is defined as


Where h
2
and h
1
are depth from origin surface to
corrosion groove base and corrosion depth of base
metal.
The polarization curves of the base metal and the
welding zone were measured in 3.5 wt.% NaCl at 25
0
C.
A scanning rate was 0.2 mV/s during polarization curve
measurement.
The microstructure of the ERW steels was examined by
Optical microscope and measure the bondline.
325kW 297kW 284kW
Non-Sour Service
X65
Sour resistance
X65
Sour resistance
X70
Evaluation of Grooving Corrosion and electrochemical
properties of ERW steel pipes
Maksudur Rahman
1
, Seo Jung-Chul, Chang - Wook Ji, Yeong-Do Park
1
Dong-Eui Univrsity, Dept. ofAdvanced Materials Engineering, Busan, South Korea.
Center for Education
for Welding Engineer
DONG-EUI UNIVERSITY
Methods Back ground
Objectives
A constant potential polarization approach
is used to investigate the performances of grooving corrosion of Non-Sour
Service x65, Sour resistance X65 and Sour resistance X70 steel pipe lines.
Comparison of those steels are made in case of grooving corrosion and
electrochemical properties.
For Sour resistance X70 steel, the performance of grooving corrosion is
investigated and compared at different heat input.
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of
the ERW process
Fig. 2. Electrodes System Fig. 3. Determination of
sensitivity coefficient of
grooving corrosion.
Fig. 4. Polarization potential
measuring apparatus
Results and Discussions
-8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1
-1.0
-0.8
-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0.0


P
o
t e
n
t i a
l [ V
]
Current [logH+]
Sour Resistance X70 base metal
Sour Resistance X65 base metal
Non-Sour Service X65 base metal
Non-Sour Service
X65
Sour resistance
X65
Sour resistance
X70
-8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1
-1.0
-0.8
-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0.0


P
o
t e
n
t i a
l (
V
)
Current [logH+]
Sour Resistance X70 bondline_284kW
Sour Resistance X65 bondline
Non-Sour Service x65 Bondline
-8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1
-1.0
-0.8
-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0.0
sour resistance X70 base metal
sour resistance X70 bondline_284kW
sour resistance X70 bondline_297kW
sour resistance X70 bondline_325kW
P
o
t
e
n
t
i a
l [
V
]
Current[logH+]
Comparisons between steels along the base metals:
Comparisons between the steels along the bondlines:
Comparisons between different heat input at sour resistance X70:
Polarization potential curves
Polarization potential curves
Polarization potential curves
3.5wt% NaCl aqueous solution,
current density 20mA/cm
2
, for 48 hours
Grooving Corrosion
Microstructures of the Base Metals
Microstructures of the Bondlines
Microstructures of the Bondlines at different Heat input
Grooving Images
Grooving
Factor,
Bondline
Width
Non-Sour
Service X65
1.322 100.9 m
Sour
Resistance
X65
1.0 52.6m
Sour
Resistance
X70
1.106 79.2m
1.104 68.7m
1.161 73.1m
284kW
297kW
325kW
Conclusions
Grooving Corrosion is more severe at the weld zone than the base metal, which is observed at the polarization potential curves.
Non-Sour Service X65 has higher amount of pearlite at the bondline as well as at the base metal in comparison with the sour resistance steels.
Sour resistance X70 has coarser ferrite microstructure at the bondline, which performs better in terms of average corrosion and the ferrite microstructure shows
lowest corrosion rate.
Heat Input at ERW causes the differences in bondline width and also causes little difference in microstructures, hence it changes some corrosion level.
Corrosion problems arise in ERW pipe
because of an electrochemical potential
differences between the welding zone
and the base metal.
In order to control the
grooving corrosion of ERW oil well casings,
the relationship between grooving corrosion,
chemical composition, and steel microstructure needs to be better
understood.
Polarization potential of the base metal of Sour
resistance X65 is more lower than other two
samples.
The Grain size of the base metal Sour resistance
X70 is finer than the other two.
Sour Resistance X70 also has very little amount
of pearlite in compared to other two.
Elongated pearlites are observed at the
bondlines of all the samples. Grooving corrosion
occurs along the bondline, where pearlites are
present.
Polarization potential of the bondline of Sour
resistance X65 is more lower than other two
samples.
Ferrite Grain size of Sour resistance X70 is much
larger than the other two at the bondline area. This
means the lower amount of pearlite is present
there. Pearlite consisting of ferrite and cementite,
the cementite acts as a cathode in an electrolyte
while the ferrite phase corrodes preferentially
Non-Sour Service X65 has the highest grooving
factor than others as well as bondline width. Hence
its bondline is more reactive to corrosion
Sour resistance X65 has the goorving factor one.
That means it will be uniformly corroded.
Bondline width and the grooving factor also
varies with the variation of the heat input.
The polarization potential is lower at 325kW heat
input than the other two.
-8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1
-1.0
-0.8
-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0.0


P
o
t
e
n
t
i a
l [
V
]
Current [logH+]
Sour Resistance X65 base metal
Sour Resistance X65 bondline
-8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1
-1.0
-0.8
-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0.0


P
o
t
e
n
t
i a
l [
V
]
Current [logH+]
Non- Sour Service X65 base metal
Non-Sour Service X65 bondline
Comparisons between the base metal and
bondline (Polarization potential curves):
The polarization potential at the bondline is
lower than the base metal. As a result, the weld is
more active than the base metal, which will lead to
the formation of V-shaped corrosion groove.