High Temperature Service Experience and Failure Analysis of some Heat Resistant Stainless Steels

Construction materials are exposed to aggressive high temperature environments and it is important for materials selection to identify the failure mechanism of corroded components. This paper describes work done at Outokumpu Avesta Research Centre, Sweden to diagnose the high temperature problems of two different stainless steel components. It describes how the severity of the corrosion was the result of interaction of a number of factors, and outlines the measures taken to alleviate the problems. The discussion highlights how heavy carburization could be a problem for the heat resistant grade 310S, used as construction material for tanks in charcoal production and how Cl-containing flue gases heavily corrode stainless steel.