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Materiais metálicos expostos a ambientes aquáticos estão susceptíveis ao desenvolvimento de Corrosão Microbiologicamente Influenciada (CMI). Nas indústrias a CMI é um assunto de extrema importância devido aos prejuízos gerados nos reparos ou trocas de equipamentos e nas interrupções dos sistemas de produção associadas às falhas técnicas. No presente trabalho estão apresentados resultados de um estudo de CMI em superfícies metálicas expostas à água de processo em uma unidade geradora de energia hidrelétrica, que sofre com um acelerado processo corrosivo, principalmente nos trocadores de calor e nas turbinas. A partir de biofilmes de corrosão amostrados nas turbinas e trocadores de calor foram isolados grupos bacterianos redutores de sulfato e oxidantes e redutores de ferro que foram relacionadas como indutoras/ agravantes do processo corrosivo. / Metallic materials exposed to aquatic environments are susceptible to development of Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion (MIC). In industries MIC is a matter of great importance due to damages generated in repairs or equipment changes and production systems disruptions associated with technical failures. In this work are presented results of a MIC study on metal surfaces exposed to process water in a generating unit of hydropower, which suffers from an accelerated corrosion process, especially in the heat exchangers and the turbines. From corrosion biofilms sampled in turbines and heat exchangers were isolated bacterial groups sulfate reducing and oxidizing and reducing iron. These bacteria have been widely reported in the literature as inducing / aggravating the corrosion process.

Re-processed oxide fuel product from the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) is stored in Type 316L stainless steel, using a design of several nested cans, with the outer can providing the safety case containment barrier. The research reported in this PhD thesis aims to support the safety case related to these storage cans, by identifying and characterising susceptible microstructure sites and associated material surface conditions. The overarching goal of this project is to understand the propensity of THORP storage cans towards localised corrosion and Environment Assisted Cracking (EAC) in HCl and chloride-bearing atmospheric environments. The investigation focused on two possible corrosion cases: (1) understanding the effect of surface finishing on material performance in chloride-containing atmospheric environments, and (2) characterising the effects of the HCl aqueous solutions inside the can, with potential formation of HCl vapour. Microstructure investigations were carried out on surface-treated type 316L coupon specimens. The application of aqua blasting resulted in a deformed near-surface microstructure, containing compressive residual stresses to a depth of 100-120 micrometres. Subsequent laser engraving produced a recrystallized surface layer with tensile residual stresses reaching to a depth of 200 micrometres. Changes of surface roughness topography were accompanied by the development of a thick oxide/hydroxide film after laser engraving. Atmospheric exposure revealed similar corrosion attack for all samples, with laser engraving exhibiting the lowest number of corrosion sites, but with the largest average depth of attack. In addition, laser engraving led to atmospheric-induced stress corrosion cracking (AISCC) within two weeks of exposure to 386 ug/cm2 MgCl2-laden droplet deposits, with crack growth rates similar to ground U-bend samples. Strategies to reduce the likelihood of AISCC of laser-engraved components are discussed. The influence of HCl concentration and exposure temperature on the corrosion type and rate of annealed and cold rolled type 316L stainless steel has also been investigated. Cold rolling of up to 20 % reduction was introduced, with potentio-dynamic polarization measurements conducted in 0.01 - 3 M HCl aqueous solution. Results are compared to microstructures immersed under open circuit conditions, and to HCl-laden droplet deposits at temperatures up to 80C. Corrosion type diagrams are introduced to describe the transition between uniform corrosion, mixed-mode uniform with pitting corrosion, and pitting corrosion only, as a function of temperature, HCl concentration, and cold deformation. SCC tests of type 316L stainless steel have been carried out at 110C, by exposing U-Bend samples to HCl-laden droplets and HCl vapour. The humidity of the environment was controlled using defined volume fractions of H2O in a sealed environmental chamber. HCl-laden droplets with chloride deposition densities exceeding 1.5 ug/cm2 led to SCC after 90 minutes of exposure, whereas no corrosion attack was observed for samples with exposure to 0.15 ug/cm2 HCl. Increasing HCl concentrations resulted in fewer, but longer cracks, reaching up-to several hundreds of micrometres in length. HCl vapour exposure was carried out by adding various volumes of HCl solution in a beaker to the sealed test chambers. These HCl vapour tests confirmed a change of corrosion type with HCl concentration, from pitting corrosion with SCC, to the occurrence of uniform corrosion.

Materiais metálicos expostos a ambientes aquáticos estão susceptíveis ao desenvolvimento de Corrosão Microbiologicamente Influenciada (CMI). Nas indústrias a CMI é um assunto de extrema importância devido aos prejuízos gerados nos reparos ou trocas de equipamentos e nas interrupções dos sistemas de produção associadas às falhas técnicas. No presente trabalho estão apresentados resultados de um estudo de CMI em superfícies metálicas expostas à água de processo em uma unidade geradora de energia hidrelétrica, que sofre com um acelerado processo corrosivo, principalmente nos trocadores de calor e nas turbinas. A partir de biofilmes de corrosão amostrados nas turbinas e trocadores de calor foram isolados grupos bacterianos redutores de sulfato e oxidantes e redutores de ferro que foram relacionadas como indutoras/ agravantes do processo corrosivo. / Metallic materials exposed to aquatic environments are susceptible to development of Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion (MIC). In industries MIC is a matter of great importance due to damages generated in repairs or equipment changes and production systems disruptions associated with technical failures. In this work are presented results of a MIC study on metal surfaces exposed to process water in a generating unit of hydropower, which suffers from an accelerated corrosion process, especially in the heat exchangers and the turbines. From corrosion biofilms sampled in turbines and heat exchangers were isolated bacterial groups sulfate reducing and oxidizing and reducing iron. These bacteria have been widely reported in the literature as inducing / aggravating the corrosion process.

Engineering : Chemical / M. Tech. (Chemical Engineering)

The electrochemical corrosion behavior of mild steel in apple, grape, mango, orange and the mixture of these juices was investigated in this study. Open circuit potential and weight loss analytical techniques were employed to establish the comparative corrosion rates of this material in the agro media over the interval of five days for a sixty-day immersion period at an ambient temperature. The chemical compositions of both mild steel and the agro media were determined to ascertain corrosion mechanism for the reaction. Polarization behavior of mild steel in the agro media were determined by Tafel extrapolation curves. The analysis showed that cathodic polarization curves were almost identical irrespective of the concentration of the various media while the anodic polarization curves exhibited varying active and passive corrosion behaviour due to passivating oxide films. The analysis of the results further showed that the corrosion rate of the metallic sample decreased with longer immersion periods which could be attributed to a gradual decline in acidity of these media as revealed by the pH results. Hence, the evolution of hydrogen gas and reduction of dissolved oxygen molecules from the reacting system were presumed to be major factors retarding corrosion of the solution involved. Similarly, the presence of suspended particles on the surface of the test steel sample could have also led to the impediment to corrosion rates from the surrounding atmosphere. Microscopic analysis of the corroded mild steel specimens revealed uniform and localized corrosion with Fe2O3 spotted as the main corrosion product. The result obtained from the electrochemical study showed that the corrosion rate of the mild steel sample was highest in the orange medium (1.53mm/yr), followed by grape medium (1.40mm/yr), mixture of these media (0.67mm/yr), mango medium (0.40mm/yr) while the metal corroded least in the apple medium (0.30mm/yr) over the duration of immersion. / Engineering : Chemical / M. Tech. (Chemical Engineering)