NITRONC 60 in H2S, NACE application

NITRONIC 60 in H2S has had three annealed heats (Rb95/98) tested for the NACE MR-01-75 standard, and it passed. Unfortunately, the committee wanted to see results up to Rc22 for annealed material (a larger barrage of testing) and it was never completed.

We have several customers that have used NITRONIC 60 in H2S environment down-hole. If the customer requires a NACE compliant material, they would have to use NITRONIC 50, as it is approved. It is stronger and more corrosion resistant than 316. NITRONIC 50 also has better wear and galling characteristics than 316, but the wear and galling is not as good as NITRONIC 60.

The following paper talks about how the material was used in a unique light design STAB. Hundreds were used over several years and only one failed. The circumstances of the failure are unclear. It would be my guess that an inorganic acid was present in the particular region was the cause. This was supposed to be a low H2S well. If you have the time to read the paper, you can understand that the part failed in a very unusual manner, from a practice that will hopefully not be performed again. This paper is available at no charge on the link provided, though you may need to create an account with the store. In any case, it is one failure report - and it would be difficult to reproduce.

Users could also do what many of our customers have done, which is try the NITRONIC 60 as a test case. Upon satisfactory results, they can keep the information to themselves, and it becomes their IP without having to submit data to NACE about how and where they are using the material. This allows users to retain their trade secrets, but bolsters no new progress for the material in this application. If you have data to share, please submit it for collection and review.

I do not forsee testing completing to NACE MR0175/ISO 15156 in the near future, as the overall cost of the testing is prohibitive for the small volume use it may gain. If as a user, you feel that this stance is hindering the use of the material, please contact us so that we may re-evaluate the situation.