Corrosion Science 48 (2006) 617624

www.elsevier.com/locate/corsci

Erosion corrosion in stainless steel pipe

under water vapour two-phase ow conditions
Mitsutaka H. Koike

Safety Promotion Project, Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute, 4-49,

Muramatsu, Tokai, Naka, Ibaraki 319-1184, Japan
Received 21 May 2004; accepted 3 February 2005
Available online 22 June 2005

Abstract
High-speed two-phase water vapour ows in the outlet portion pipes of nuclear power stations. Erosion corrosion experiments of stainless steel were performed by the use of Component Test Loop, in which high-temperature pressurized water vapour is circulated, under test
conditions of all volatile treatment with steam phase velocities 1040 m/s (steam quality 15%).
The erosion corrosion losses were estimated by weight dierences of pipe specimens before and
after tests. Erosion corrosion losses are very small and almost constant for velocities of twophase ow.
2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Stainless steel; Erosion; Reactor conditions

1. Introduction
Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute has developed the ATR-Fugen, a
165 MWe prototype boiling-light-water-cooled heavy-water-moderated pressuretube-type reactor of Japan, which has operated satisfactorily since the start of

Tel.: +81 29 282 1122; fax: +81 29 282 4921.

E-mail address: mhkoike@hq.jnc.go.jp

0010-938X/$ - see front matter 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.corsci.2005.02.008

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M.H. Koike / Corrosion Science 48 (2006) 617624

commercial operation in March 1979. The ATR is a unique reactor designed mainly
to use plutoniumuranium mixed oxide fuels.
A 600 MWe ATR Demonstration Plant has been designed on the basis of the
experience of the Fugen. The demonstration reactor has 648 outlet pipes in which
high-speed two-phase water (
280 C, 7 MPa) ows from pressure tube to steam
drum. The outlet pipes are made of type 316 stainless steel and about 3 in. in size.
The design value of average steam phase velocity of two-phase ow in the outlet
pipes is about 14 m/s, and the maximum velocity is about 20 m/s. Design values of
the average and maximum steam qualities in the outlet pipes are about 16% and
30%, respectively. It must be certied that outlet pipes are endurable under these
conditions throughout the life of the reactor operation.
There have been few erosion experiments and theories under water vapour twophase ow for steam qualities of 1030%. Therefore, erosion corrosion experiments
of type 316L stainless steel are conducted in this work under water vapour highspeed two-phase ow conditions, with parameters of ow speed by the use of Component Test Loop (CTL). The CTL is a full-scale test facility simulating the primary
cooling circuit of the ATR in terms of coolant temperature and pressure.
Ito [1] performed erosion corrosion experiments of stainless steel under hightemperature water with velocity of 112 m/s. Okada [2] performed cavitation erosion
tests by water for carbon steels. Investigations were performed by Palomero [3] on
erosion corrosion of steam generator tubes of nuclear power station. As for the theory, Thiruvengadam [4] derived an equation on a threshold criterion of erosion.
Springer [5] proposed an equation which represented incubation time for erosion
under liquid droplets. However, these investigations were performed on erosion corrosion of materials under single-phase ows. In respect of the erosion corrosion under
water vapour two-phase ows for steam qualities of 1030%, there are few erosion
corrosion experiments and also few erosion corrosion theories. This paper describes
erosion corrosion experimental results and the discussion, under water vapour twophase ow conditions using a big testing apparatus.

2. Experimental procedure
Erosion corrosion experiments were performed by the use of the CTL in which
high-temperature pressurized two-phase water vapour is circulated. Fig. 1 shows
the schematic ow diagram of the CTL. Maximum pressure and temperature of
the CTL for use are 8.1 MPa and 297 C, respectively. Maximum water ow rate
and steam ow rate are 120 and 15 t/h, respectively. A boiler supplies heat to water
and circulation pumps supply head to water in the CTL. Water vapour two-phase
ow is produced by mixing hot water and steam. After they are mixed, the two-phase
water vapour ows into erosion corrosion test sections and to a Direct Condenser
which separates vapour from two-phase ow. Vapour is circulated by a Steam Compressor with high speed. There are three test channels in the CTL, two of which
abbreviated in the gure are used for another tests as fuel assembly endurance test,
seal plug test and pressure drop test.

M.H. Koike / Corrosion Science 48 (2006) 617624

619

Fig. 1. Flow diagram of Component Test Loop.

Four kinds of erosion corrosion test sections of horizontal pipes are made in
order to achieve four kinds of ow speed tests by varying the pipe diameter of each
test section. Many small pipe specimens cut in round slices (15 mm length, 5 mm
thick, 10 lm surface roughness) are lined in series and xed in four erosion corrosion test sections of the CTL. These inner diameters are 73.7, 62.1, 49.4 and
38.3 mm (JIS pipes). Pipe specimens are inserted into the ceramics liners which
avoid electro-chemical corrosion for specimens, and the liners lined in series are
also inserted into the pipe and xed. Specimens weight is measured before and
after the erosion corrosion test. The two-phase water vapour is owed from the test
section of larger inner diameter to those of smaller inner diameter, that is, from the
test section of 73.7 mm diameter to that of 62.1, 49.4 and 38.3 mm diameter in
order. The two-phase ow rate is constant during experiment, so that the velocity
of the ow is increased as the diameter of the test section become smaller. The
erosion corrosion experiment with four kinds of velocities is to be performed by
a constant ow rate test.
In order to estimate thickness loss by erosion corrosion for the outlet portion
pipes of the nuclear power stations under two-phase water vapour ow conditions,
not plate type specimens but pipe type specimens must be used for the experiments,
because the two-phase ow pattern is very complicated compared with single phase
ow pattern and plate type specimens are not appropriate to the erosion corrosion
test for the outlet pipes. The two-phase ow pattern of the present experiments
are classied into annular mist ow type [6].
Type 316L stainless steel has less sensitivity to stress corrosion cracking because
of its low carbon constitution and is used in nuclear power stations.

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M.H. Koike / Corrosion Science 48 (2006) 617624

Erosion corrosion experimental conditions were as follows:

steam quality: 15% (steam 5 t/h, water 24 t/h),
experimental period: 504 and 1804 h,
temperature and pressure: 290 C, 7.6 MPa,
water chemistry: pH 10, DO 6 2 ppb, 15 lS/cm (all volatile treatment, AVT),
steam velocities of two-phase ow: 10, 15, 24 and 40 m/s.
The erosion corrosion loss of material was estimated from the specimen weight
dierence between before and after erosion corrosion tests. The erosion corrosion
loss DW is expressed as
DW W 1  W 0 ;

where W0 is an initial specimen weight before test, and W1 is a specimen weight when
after the test oxide lm on the specimen is removed by chemical reagents. Chemical
reagents used here removed oxide lm only and did not attack base metal, which
were examined by the blank test. Two kinds of reagents were used for the lm removal, one alkali permanganate the other citricoxalic acid with inhibitor.
The ow speeds of the water vapour two-phase ow were calculated by the use of
quality x and void fraction a. For instance, the vapour phase speed VG, water phase
speed VL, and two-phase ow speed VLG are expressed as
xW
;
2
VG
aAcG
VL

1  xW
;
1  aAcL

W
; cLG 1  acL acG ;
4
AcLG
where W, A and cG, cL are total two-phase ow rate, the cross-sectional area of pipe,
the density of vapour, and the density of liquid, respectively. Void fraction of this
work are obtained as 0.63 by the equations of Banko and Jones [7].
Erosion corrosion specimens after tests were observed on the inner surfaces by the
use of Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to detect whether severe erosion corrosion occurred or not. Analyses using Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) were performed on oxide lms of specimen surfaces, especially for oxygen element. By
etching oxide lms up to base metal with the use of argon ions, fractions of elements
which compose lms were obtained quantitatively. Also, X-ray diraction analyses
were performed on the lms to determine chemical formula of the oxides.
V LG

3. Results and discussion

Experimental results obtained by the use of straight pipe test sections are described
here. As for the curved pipe, experimental results will be described elsewhere.

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621

Fig. 2 shows the experimental data. The steam quality is 15% and the water chemistry is decided under the all volatile treatment in which dissolved oxygen (DO) is
very low as less than 2 ppb to result in less-corrosive circumstance for materials.
The periods of test are 504 and 1804 h. Black circle means 504-h data and white circle means 1804-h data.
All of the data are summarized in Table 1 in which the erosion losses of type 316L
stainless steel are represented with the unit of reduced thickness per year, lm/year.
For the AVT data, reduced thicknesses by erosion corrosion are calculated for each
dierent period of test.
By the use of SEM, observations were performed on the specimen inner surfaces
after the tests (surface roughness before test is about 10 lm, smooth). Oxide lms
cover all the surface of the specimen, and in several places oxide lms are observed
to be peeled o by erosion corrosion. However, the degrees of erosion attacks are not
so severe because the depths of the peeled-o places are shallow.
Depth proles of oxide lms were analyzed by the use of AES with etching successive layers of lm by argon-gas ion bombardment. Fig. 3 shows the AES spectrum
of specimen surface (504-h test). Abscissa means etching time which corresponds to
depth from the lm surface and ordinate means atomic percentages of elements. The
thickness of the lm and oxygen content in the lm were 0.9 lm and 10 wt.%,
respectively.
AVT, Two-Phase Flow

Erosion Corrosion Loss

2
[mg/(dm) ]

1804 hours test

504 hours test

40
30
20
10
0
0

10

20

30

40

50

Steam Phase Velocity [m/sec]

Fig. 2. Experimental results of erosion corrosion tests.

Table 1
Experimental results of erosion corrosion tests under water vapour two-phase conditions (AVT: pH 10,
DO 6 2 ppb, 15 lS/cm, quality 15%)
VG (m/s)
VL (m/s)
VLG (m/s)
Thickness loss (lm/year) 504-h test
Thickness loss (lm/year) 1804-h test

10.8
6.1
6.5
2.7 0.1
1.2 0.1

15.2
8.6
9.1
2.7 0.2
1.1 0.1

24
13.6
14.5
2.7 0.1
1.5 0.3

VG: steam phase velocity, VL: water phase velocity, VLG: two-phase velocity.

39.9
22.6
24.1
2.9 0.2
1.4 0.3

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M.H. Koike / Corrosion Science 48 (2006) 617624

AES Analysis
O

Fe

Cr

Ni

Mo

100
90

Element (at.%)

80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0

50

100

150

200

Etching Time (min)

Fig. 3. AES analysis of specimen inner surface for 504-h test.

Moreover, X-ray diraction analyses were performed on the erosion corrosion

specimens to determine the chemical formulae of oxide lms. By the analyses, the
oxide lms were determined to mainly consist of the following oxides:
a-Fe2 O3 ; FeO
After the erosion corrosion tests, oxide lms of specimen surface were removed by
reagents in order to obtain the specimen weight W1 of Eq. (1). At the time, the
weight dierences were obtained between before and after the lm removals. By
these data with AES analyses, the density of oxide lms was obtained as 1 g/cm3.
These values are much smaller than that of base metal.
As shown in Fig. 2, erosion corrosion losses of type 316L stainless steel are not
increased according as the increase of two-phase ow velocity. For single-phase
ow, like water, erosion losses of material are directly dependent on the ow
velocity, that is, erosion loss increases according as the increase of ow velocity.
For two-phase ow as the present study, the ow pattern of the water vapour
two-phase ow plays important roles for erosion. The ow pattern of the two-phase
ow in this work is classied as annular mist ow type in which liquid phase consists of sublayer, large disturbance wave streaming on the sublayer with higher
speed, and entrainment, and steam ows in the center of pipe [8]. The erosion corrosion losses were almost constant for velocities of two-phase ow. For the present
test, erosion corrosion loss of materials is contributed to by both erosion and
corrosion in which erosion is contributed to by ow patterns and corrosion is
contributed to mainly by dissolved oxygen in the ow (62 ppb) which is considered
very small.
The large-disturbance liquid waves (LD waves) proceed smoothly on sublayer
ows. The speed of LD waves is one order higher than that of sublayer [8], so that
the attack of LD waves on pipe surfaces is considered to be weak. Entrainments are

M.H. Koike / Corrosion Science 48 (2006) 617624

Sublayer

623

Large-Disturbance wave

Entrainment
Steam

Two-Phase flow

Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of annular mist two-phase ow.

produced near the top of the LD waves by the attack of accelerated steam ow as
shown in Fig. 4.
The erosion corrosion loss of straight pipe, I think, is contributed mainly by sublayer kinetic energy, not by LD waves. By the research work of Sekoguchi for the
ow pattern, as the ow speed of two-phase ow increases the thickness of sublayer
ow decreases [8]. As the ow speed of two-phase ow decreases, the thickness of
sublayer ow increases. So that, the kinetic energy of sublayer ow might be nearly
equal for both cases. Actually, erosion corrosion losses of the present tests were
obtained almost constant for various ow velocities. The theoretical consideration
will be made after the erosion corrosion tests are conducted for higher steam
qualities.

4. Conclusion
1. Erosion corrosion experiments of type 316L stainless steel (inner surface roughness: about 10 lm) under water vapour two-phase ow were performed by the
use of CTL for the outlet pipes of reactors. Experiments were performed with test
conditions AVT (DO 6 2 ppb, pH 10, steam quality 15%) in which steam velocities of two-phase ow were changed in the range of 1040 m/s. Results of the
erosion corrosion loss were as follows:
504-h test: 2.72.9 lm/year,
1804-h test: 1.11.5 lm/year.
Values of the erosion corrosion loss are very small and almost constant for the
velocities of two-phase ow. For initial time of period erosion corrosion is rather
higher and then gradually decreases.
2. Analyses of oxide lms on specimen surfaces gave the following information:
(a) The chemical formulae of oxide lms were determined by X-ray diraction
analyses as mainly a-Fe2O3 and FeO.
(b) The depth proles of oxide lms were determined by AES analyses, in which
oxygen and metallic elements were quantitatively obtained in the oxide lms.

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M.H. Koike / Corrosion Science 48 (2006) 617624

The thickness of the lms and oxygen content in the lms were 0.9 lm and
10 wt.% for 504-h test and 1.4 lm and 11 wt.% for 1804-h test, respectively.
(c) The densities of oxide lms were obtained as 1 g/cm3.

Acknowledgment
The authors wish to thank Ryowa Industry Co., Ltd. for their earnest and safety
operations of Component Test Loop during the erosion corrosion tests.

References
[1] G. Ito, Y. Shimizu, S. Sato, Corrosion Engineering 18 (8) (1969) 918 (in Japanese).
[2] Y. Okada, A. Iwamoto, K. Sano, Transactions of JSME 43 (1977) 817 (in Japanese).
[3] C.F. Palomero, E. Hifrensa, K. GarbettProceedings of the water chemistry, vol. 3, BNES, London,
1983, pp. 235244.
[4] A. Thiruvengadam, ASTM STP 408 (1966) 2232.
[5] G.S. Springer, Erosion by liquid impact, John Wiley, New York, 1976.
[6] K. Akagawa, Two phase ow, Corona, Tokyo, 1976 (in Japanese).
[7] S.G. Banko, Transactions of the ASME 82 (Series C) (1960) 35.
[8] K. Sekoguchi, K. Nishikata, M. Nakasatomi, H. Nishi, A. Kaneuji, Transactions of JSME 39 (317)
(1973) 313322 (in Japanese).