×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Stress Corrosion on Titanium Tubes?

Stress Corrosion on Titanium Tubes?

Stress Corrosion on Titanium Tubes?

(OP)
I have a titanium tube bundle which has been in service in a cooling water heat exchanger for the past 6 years. Process side contains LPG service with several ppm of chlorides. Tube side contains seawater. The exchanger is a trim condenser. Process temperature and pressure is ~55C and 1950 kPag at the inlet.

Recently, a leak developed in the tube bundle and the several tubes were found to have collapsed. The tubes were found to have uneven thinning on the OD, suggesting corrosion wastage at the surface. The mechanism of the corrosion is still unclear but the main suspect is HCl formation in the process side.  

What surprises me is that I always have the impression that Titanium is corrosion resistant, even to acid attacks. Does anyone have any similar experiences? Can anyone suggest how the HCl could have formed under the normal operating conditions?

RE: Stress Corrosion on Titanium Tubes?

Ti metal is very reactive--it's the tough TiO2 (oxide) that protects it.  Acidic conditions can disolve the oxide layer, and the metal can corrode rapidly, especially in HCL.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources