Materials Resistant to Sulfide Stress Corrosion Cracking

This standard presents metallic material requirements for resistance to sulfide stress cracking (SSC) for petroleum production, drilling, gathering and flowline equipment, field processing facilities, and refining facilities (see Table 7) to be used in hydrogen sulfide (H2S)-bearing hydrocarbon service (liquid, gas, and/or multiphase). This standard does not include and is not intended to include design specifications. Other forms of corrosion and other modes of failure, although outside the scope of this standard, should also be considered in design and operation of equipment. Severely corrosive conditions may lead to failures by mechanisms other than SSC and should be mitigated by corrosion inhibition or materials selection, which are outside the scope of this standard (See SAES-L-133).

For example, some lower-strength steels used for pipelines and vessels may be subjected to failure by blister cracking or hydrogen-induced (stepwise) cracking as a result of hydrogen damage associated with general corrosion in the presence of H2S. Also, austenitic stainless steels and even more highly alloyed materials may fail by a type of chloride stress corrosion cracking that is promoted by elevated temperature, aggravated in some cases by the presence of H2S.