Surface erosion and erosion-corrosion are among major degradations in the hydrocarbon industries and are driven by the attributes of process streams and materials of construction for process equipment(s)/piping. Despite significant corrosion and wear resistance, the performance of Ni-P coatings is inhibited due to fracture and cracking by the impact of erosive particles in the process streams. This study involves the preparation of graphene incorporated Ni-P coatings by adding various concentrations of graphene in Ni-P plating bath under stirring conditions. The solid particle erosion behavior of Ni-P coatings was studied under two different erodent velocities of 35 ms−1 and 52 ms−1 and three different incident angles as 45°, 60°, and 90°. Indent size and morphologies were characterized using the microscopic examination. The electrochemical behavior of ternary Ni-P coatings was studied using Potentiodynamic Polarization testing against 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution. Graphene addition improved the electrochemical and wear behavior by the reduction of porosities and improved hardness, respectively.
Pipelines, process equipment for hydrocarbon production and refining industries are prone to numerous degradation mechanisms arising from service conditions namely temperature, pressure, corrosivity, flow velocity etc. Among numerous damage mechanisms, erosion damage from high velocity fluids and abrasive particles is quite prevalent. Various types of erosion damage(s) reported so far are liquid droplet erosion, vapor bubble erosion, cavitation, abrasive particle erosion, and erosion-corrosion etc.1 The extent of erosion is influenced by many attributes of erodent such as shape (i.e., asperity), hardness, density, impingement angle etc. Moreover, the process conditions and substrate properties (hardness, toughness, surface smoothness) also determine susceptibility to erosion damages. Certain applications in the refining industry require the fluidization of powdered catalysts via steam or air pressure which renders the material of process equipment (reactor, regenerator etc.) susceptible to erosion. Furthermore, the turbulent zones in piping systems (e.g., bends, reducers etc.) have high propensity of erosion damage. Erosion damage from steam impingement in boiler's piping system leads to a more complex and irreparable corrosion namely boiler water condensate corrosion.2 The corrosion products in the form of debris and chips can sometimes act as erodent thereby aggravating the material loss from erosion-corrosion damage. In addition, higher velocities of the process streams may damage the protective films, thereby accelerating the metal loss rate.
