2011
EFFICIENCY OF INHIBITORS OF CHLORIDE-INDUCED CREVICE CORROSION
OF A Ni-Cr-Mo ALLOY
Mauricio Rincón Ortíz, Martín A. Rodríguez and Ricardo M. Carranza
Depto. Materiales - Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica
Instituto Sabato - Univ. Nac. de San Martín / CNEA
Av. Gral. Paz 1499
San Martín, B1650KNA Buenos Aires, Argentina
mrincon@cnea.gov.ar
Raul B. Rebak
GE Global Research
1 Research Circle, CEB2505
Schenectady, NY 12309, USA
ABSTRACT
Alloy 22 was considered as a candidate for the engineered barrier of the USA repository
and it is still considered among the candidates in the scoping work for the argentine repository
system. Chloride ion is the only species present in groundwater that is able to promote crevice
corrosion, if severe conditions such as high temperatures and a tight crevice are present.
Other species present in groundwater have shown to be inhibitors or non-detrimental species.
The objective of this work was to evaluate the efficiency of different species potentially found in
groundwaters as possible inhibitors of crevice corrosion of alloy 22. A modification of the THE
method (ASTM G 192) was used for determining the crevice corrosion repassivation potential
of alloy 22 in chloride plus inhibitor solutions at 90ºC. The species tested as inhibitors were
nitrate, sulfate, carbonate, bicarbonate, chromate and molybdate anions. The critical ratio for
the complete inhibition ranged from 0.2 to 2. Nitrate was the most efficient among tested in-
hibitors. The carbonate was the only species of the carbonate / bicarbonate / carbonic acid
equilibrium able to inhibit the chloride-induced crevice corrosion of alloy 22. Sulfate, chromate
and molybdate were moderately goods inhibitors.
Keywords: N06022, chloride, crevice corrosion, repassivation potential, inhibitors
INTRODUCTION
Alloy 22 (N06022)
1
is a well known member of the Ni-Cr-Mo family of alloys. It was de-
signed to withstand the most aggressive industrial applications in both reducing and oxidizing
acids
2,3
. It contains nominally 22% chromium (Cr), 13% molybdenum (Mo) and 3% tungsten
©2011 by NACE International. Requests for permission to publish this manuscript in any form, in part or in whole, must be in writing to NACE
International, Publications Division, 1440 South Creek Drive, Houston, Texas 77084. The material presented and the views expressed in this paper are
solely those of the author(s) and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association.
1
Paper No.
11204