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EQUIPMENT DESIGN

LECTURE 10
MATERIAL OF CONSTRACTION

CHAPTER 7
Materials of Construction
Many factors have to be considered when selecting engineering
materials, but for chemical process plant the overriding consideration is
usually the ability to resist corrosion.
The process designer will be responsible for recommending
materials that will be suitable for the process conditions.
The most important characteristics to be considered when
selecting a material of construction are: 1. Mechanical properties
(a) Strength-tensile strength
(b) Stiffness-elastic modulus (Young's modulus)
(c) Toughness-fracture resistance
(d) Hardness-wear resistance
(e) Fatigue resistance
(f) Creep resistance

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CHAPTER 7
Materials of Construction

2. The effect of high and low temperatures on the mechanical

properties
3. Corrosion resistance
4. Any special properties required; such as, thermal conductivity,
electrical resistance, magnetic properties
5. Ease of fabrication-forming, welding, casting (see Table 7.1}
6. Availability in standard sizes-plates, sections, tubes
7. Cost

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Effect of temperature on the mechanical properties

The tensile strength and elastic modulus of metals decrease with increasing
temperature.For example, the tensile strength of mild steel (low carbon steel, C < 0.25
per cent) is 450 N/mm2 at 25ÄC falling to 210 at 500ÄC, and the value of Young's
modulus 200,000 N/mm2 at 25ÄC falling to 150,000 N/mm2 at 500ÄC. If equipment is
being designed to operate at high temperatures, materials that retain their strength must
be selected. The stainless steels are superior in this respect to plain carbon steels.
Creep resistance will be important if the material is subjected to high stresses
at elevated temperatures. Special alloys, such as Inconel (International Nickel Co.), are
used for high temperature equipment such as furnace tubes. The selection of materials
for high-temperature applications is discussed by Day (1979).
At low temperatures, less than 10ÄC, metals that are normally ductile can fail
in a brittle manner. Serious disasters have occurred through the failure of welded carbon
steel vessels at low temperatures. The phenomenon of brittle failure is associated with
the crystalline structure of metals. Metals with a body-centred-cubic (bcc) lattice are
more liable to brittle failure than those with a face-centred-cubic (fee) or hexagonal
lattice. For low-temperature equipment, such as cryogenic plant and liquefied-gas
storages, austenitic stainless steel (fee) or aluminium alloys (hex) should be specified;
see Wigley (1978).

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CORROSION RESISTANCE
The conditions that cause corrosion can arise in a variety of
ways. For this brief discussion on the selection of materials it is
convenient to classify corrosion into the following categories:
1. General wastage of material-uniform corrosion.
2. Galvanic corrosion-dissimilar metals in contact.
3. Fitting-localised attack.
4. Intergranular corrosion.
5. Stress corrosion.
6. Erosion-corrosion.
7. Corrosion fatigue.
8. High temperature oxidation.
9. Hydrogen embrittlement.
.

CORROSION
Metallic corrosion is essentially an electrochemical process. Four
components are necessary to set up an electrochemical cell:
1. Anode-the corroding electrode.
2. Cathode-the passive, non-corroding electrode.
3. The conducting medium-the electrolyte-the corroding fluid.
4. Completion of the electrical circuit-through the material.

Cathodic areas can arise in many ways:

(i) Dissimilar metals.
(ii) Corrosion products.
(iii) Inclusions in the metal, such as slag,
(iv) Less well-aerated areas.
(v) Areas of differential concentration.
(vi) Differentially strained areas

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Corrosion charts
The resistance of some commonly used materials to a range of
chemicals is shown in Appendix C.
More comprehensive corrosion data, covering most of the
materials used in the construction of process plant, in a wide range of
corrosive media, are given by, Rabald (1968), NACE (1974), Hamner
(1974), Perry and Green (1984) and Schweitzer (1976) (1989) (1998).
The twelve volume Dechema Corrosion Handbook is an
extensive guide to the interaction of corrosive media with materials,
Dechema (1987).

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APPENDIX C
Corrosion Chart
An R indicates that the material is resistant to the named
chemical up to the temperature shown, subject to the limitations given in
the notes. The notes are given at the end of the table.
A blank indicates that the material is unsuitable. ND indicates
that no data was available for the particular combination of material and
chemical.

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