Flow accelerated preferential weld corrosion of X65 steel in brine

Abstract

Preferential weld corrosion (PWC) remains a major operational challenge that jeopardizes the integrity of oil and gas production facilities. It is the selective dissolution of metal associated with welds, such that the weld metal (WM) and / or the adjacent heat-affected zone (HAZ) corrode rather than the parent metal (PM). Corrosion inhibition is conventionally used to mitigate this problem however several indications suggest that some corrosion inhibitors may increase PWC. Furthermore, it is not possible to detect systems that are susceptible to PWC and or to understand the apparent ineffectiveness of some corrosion inhibitors at high flow rates. Consequently, the aim of this research is to assess the suitability of submerged jet impingement method to study flow accelerated preferential weld corrosion, which is critical to safe and economic operations of offshore oil and gas facilities. In this research, a submerged jet-impingement flow loop was used to investigate corrosion control of X65 steel weldment in flowing brine, saturated with carbon dioxide at 1 bar, and containing a typical oilfield corrosion inhibitor. A novel jet-impingement target was constructed from samples of parent material, heat affected zone and weld metal, and subjected to flowing brine at velocities up to 10 ms- 1 , to give a range of hydrodynamic conditions from stagnation to high turbulence. The galvanic currents between the electrodes in each hydrodynamic zone were recorded using zero-resistance ammeters and their self-corrosion rates were measured using the linear polarisation technique. At low flow rates, the galvanic currents were small and in some cases the weld metal and heat affected zone were partially protected by the sacrificial corrosion of the parent material. However, at higher flow rates the galvanic currents increased but some current reversals were observed, leading to accelerated corrosion of the weld region. The most severe corrosion occurred when oxygen was deliberately admitted into the flow loop to simulate typical oilfield conditions. The results are explained in terms of the selective removal of the inhibitor film from different regions of the weldment at high flow rates and the corrosion mechanism in the presence of oxygen is discussed.