Development plan of austenitic Fe and Ni based alloys with improved corrosion resistance to sulfuric acid and HI fluids of industrial processes

In this study, austenitic Fe based alloys and Ni based alloys was developed as candidate structural materials for equipment operated in sulfuric acid and hydrogen iodide (HI) environment, which exists in various industrial processes including iodine-sulfur (IS) hydrogen production process and geothermal power generation process. The objectives of the study are to achieve the corrosion resistance performance sufficient under the working condition of these processes and to overcome the practical scale-up difficulty of the ceramic (SiC) material that is presently used in the processes due to the manufacturing size limitation of the ceramic. The chemical composition development plan for the austenitic Fe based alloys is threefold: reinforcement of matrix by addition of Cu and Ta, strength compensation of the surface film by addition of Si and Ti, and prevention of peeling of surface oxide by addition of rare earth elements. Because addition of Cu and Si is known to reduce the ductility of the material and thus manufacturability of the component, it is important to determine the allowable amount of each element to be added. On the other hand, the chemical composition development plan for the Ni based alloys is reinforcement of matrix by addition of Mo, W and Ta, strength compensation of the surface film by addition of Ti, and prevention of peeling of surface oxide by addition of rare earth elements. In particular, the addition of Mo and W to the Ni based alloy is expected to be effective in preventing dimensional deviation of structures from increasing during heating and cooling of process equipment. Various material specimens will be fabricated based on the above chemical composition development plans and tests on these specimens will then be carried out to confirm the corrosion resistance performance under the fluid conditions simulating each industrial process. (author)