Susceptibility Evaluation to the Stress Corrosion Cracking in Biofuels

Abstract

The objective of this research is to evaluate the susceptibility of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) to the effect of adding water in different concentrations of 0.5, 5 and 10% in ethanol-gasoline blends up to 95 and 85% of ethanol, in addition to an inert media for API 5L-X52 steel, commonly used in the transport of hydrocarbons, by constant extension rate test (CERT). Extension rate range was 10-6 s-1, simultaneously, the potential and current noise were examined by the Electrochemical Noise technique where the registered fluctuations have correspondence with the dissolution of the material. Additionally, it was observed that tests with low content in % (V) of water present the less satisfactory results, as well as secondary cracks in the samples analyzed by SCC.