Improvement of surface properties of stainless steel used in the oil and gas industries through plasma assisted thermochemical treatment

• Grant number: 12/50890-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: February 01, 2013
• End date: July 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering - Physical Metallurgy
• Agreement: University of Birmingham
• Principal Investigator: Andre Paulo Tschiptschin
• Grantee: Andre Paulo Tschiptschin
• Principal researcher abroad: Hanshan Dong
• Institution abroad: University of Birmingham, England
• Host Institution: Escola Politécnica (EP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Stainless steels are being used in a variety of applications within the refining and petrochemical industry, where high corrosion resistance and mechanical properties are required. Surface properties of these materials may be improved in order to reach a better performance in highly stressed tribological systems. Results obtained by the two research groups have shown that low temperature DC-pulsed plasma diffusion surface treatments, dose to 400oC, where nitrogen and/or carbon are introduced in stainless steels promoting "colossal supersaturation" leads to strong hardening without loss of corrosion resistance. The hardening mechanism changes from nitride or carbide precipitation to lattice distortion of the FCC austenitic lattice leading to formation of expanded austenite, or S-Phase, inducing high compressive stresses in the surface layer and leading to strong hardening between 1000 HV and 1500 HV, with no loss of corrosion resistance. The research work carried out by the Brazilian group focuses on S-phase formation and duplex treatment of austenitic, martensitic and duplex stainless steels and the benefits that S-phase can bring to the improvement of erosion-corrosion, cavitation-erosion and hydrogen embrittlement of stainless steel valves and parts to be used at high depths in the pre-salt exploitation wells. The Birmingham group has done systematic work on S-phase including: active-screen plasma S-phase surface engineering, S-phase surface engineering of duplex and precipitation stainless steels, duplex surface engineering involving S-phase, erosion-corrosion & corrosion-wear, mechanical and/or thermal stability of S-phase. (AU)

Scientific publications

(10)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

ESPITIA, L. A.; DONG, HANSHAN; LI, XIAO-YING; PINEDO, C. E.; TSCHIPTSCHIN, A. P.. Scratch test of active screen low temperature plasma nitrided AISI 410 martensitic stainless steel. WEAR, v. 376, n. A, p. 30-36, APR 15 2017. (12/50890-0)

PINEDO, CARLOS EDUARDO; VARELA, LUIS BERNARDO; TSCHIPTSCHIN, ANDRE PAULO. Low-temperature plasma nitriding of AISI F51 duplex stainless steel. SURFACE & COATINGS TECHNOLOGY, v. 232, p. 839-843, OCT 2013. (11/16211-5, 12/50890-0)

MARIA LOPEZ, DIANA; FALLEIROS, NEUSA ALONSO; TSCHIPTSCHIN, ANDRE PAULO. Use of Electrochemical Tests for Assessment of the Effect of Erosive Particle Size on the Erosion-Corrosion Behaviour of AISI 304L Austenitic Stainless Steel. MATERIALS RESEARCH-IBERO-AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MATERIALS, v. 19, n. 2, p. 8-pg., 2016-03-01. (12/50890-0)

ARAUJO, JULIANO AVELAR; ARAUJO, GISELA MARQUES; SOUZA, ROBERTO MARTINS; TSCHIPTSCHIN, ANDRE PAULO. Effect of periodicity on hardness and scratch resistance of CrN/NbN nanoscale multilayer coating deposited by cathodic arc technique. WEAR, v. 330, p. 9-pg., 2015-05-01. (12/50890-0)

ESPITIA, L. A.; DONG, HANSHAN; LI, XIAO-YING; PINEDO, C. E.; TSCHIPTSCHIN, A. P.. Cavitation erosion resistance and wear mechanisms of active screen low temperature plasma nitrided AISI 410 martensitic stainless steel. WEAR, v. 332, n. SI, p. 1070-1079, MAY-JUN 2015. (12/50890-0)

MARIA LOPEZ, DIANA; FALLEIROS, NEUSA ALONSO; TSCHIPTSCHIN, ANDRE PAULO. Use of Electrochemical Tests for Assessment of the Effect of Erosive Particle Size on the Erosion-Corrosion Behaviour of AISI 304L Austenitic Stainless Steel. MATERIALS RESEARCH-IBERO-AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MATERIALS, v. 19, n. 2, p. 451-458, MAR-APR 2016. (12/50890-0)

TSCHIPTSCHIN, A. P.; VARELA, L. B.; PINEDO, C. E.; LI, X. Y.; DONG, H.. Development and microstructure characterization of single and duplex nitriding of UNS S31803 duplex stainless steel. SURFACE & COATINGS TECHNOLOGY, v. 327, p. 83-92, OCT 25 2017. (12/50890-0)

ESPITIA, L. A.; DONG, HANSHAN; LI, XIAO-YING; PINEDO, C. E.; TSCHIPTSCHIN, A. P.. Scratch test of active screen low temperature plasma nitrided AISI 410 martensitic stainless steel. WEAR, v. 376, p. 7-pg., 2017-04-15. (12/50890-0)

ESPITIA, L. A.; DONG, HANSHAN; LI, XIAO-YING; PINEDO, C. E.; TSCHIPTSCHIN, A. P.. Cavitation erosion resistance and wear mechanisms of active screen low temperature plasma nitrided AISI 410 martensitic stainless steel. WEAR, v. 332, p. 10-pg., 2015-05-01. (12/50890-0)

JULIANO AVELAR ARAUJO; ROBERTO MARTINS SOUZA; NELSON BATISTA DE LIMA; ANDRÉ PAULO TSCHIPTSCHIN. Thick CrN/NbN Multilayer Coating Deposited by Cathodic Arc Technique. MATERIALS RESEARCH-IBERO-AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MATERIALS, v. 20, n. 1, p. 200-209, 2016-12-19. (12/50890-0)