Failure Analysis of AISI 304 Stainless Steel Tubes Used in the Heat Exchanger of an Electric Heater Adriano Matos Mendes, Hector Augusto Siqueira do Rosário, Kerginaldo Victor da Silva Filho, Ruan Gutierrez Cândido, Willy Ank de Morais

Abstract

Corrosion-related phenomena are complex, involving numerous factors, some of which are difficult to characterize precisely. The adoption of stainless steel has proven to be one of the main tools for reducing corrosive processes in various applications, reducing equipment maintenance, and freeing up more time for production. However, due to the strong influence of chlorides and temperature, efforts have been made to establish limits under working conditions where pitting corrosion and stress corrosion cracking do not occur in stainless steel. In this sense, the present work used experimental techniques to characterize the tubes of a heat exchanger made of AISI 304 stainless steel from an electric heater sent for work on an oil platform. The results showed chloride deposition on the internal walls of the tubes due to the high concentration of chloride in the medium, which accelerates the corrosive process. The results demonstrated that improving the quality control of the fluid is recommended, avoiding contamination with salt water throughout all cleaning stages carried out by the system.