Nothing is more important to the oil and gas industry than the integrity of its infrastructure. Ensuring pipes remain intact and in good working order prevents loss of product and productivity, making corrosion one of the most insidious threats operators face. They must keep a close eye on their assets to ensure that piping, pressure vessels, and more remain strong. That makes corrosion rate testing a crucial element of their maintenance strategies.<\/p>\r\n
Corrosion rate testing is a combination of field monitoring and laboratory methods used to determine how quickly environmental conditions may be impacting the integrity of metal materials. Laboratory testing is used primarily to model how these materials will behave under certain conditions, while the field monitoring serves to confirm their actual performance under live process conditions.<\/p>\r\n
With the corrosion rate data these processes provide, operators can drive decision-making with regard to maintenance scheduling, calculating asset remaining life, optimizing chemical treatments, and ensuring regulatory compliance. Corrosion rate testing and monitoring is required under 49 CFR Part 192 Subpart O as well as 49 CFR Part 195 Subpart H.<\/p>\r\n
SMARTCORR\u00ae is a leading corrosion testing services and equipment partner trusted by the oil and gas industry. We provide monitoring hardware as well as the SCEMS software platform to give operators the most complete picture of their corrosion risks, from initial material selection all the way through to ongoing field surveillance. To get the most from these technologies and techniques, it\u2019s important for oil and gas companies to understand how corrosion rate testing works and the standard test methods employed.<\/p>\r\n
Weight Loss Coupon Testing \u2014 The Foundational Method for Measuring Your Corrosion Rate<\/strong><\/p>\r\n Corrosion coupons are one of the most common ways oil and gas operators estimate metal loss in their pipelines. This process involves inserting strips of the same metal the pipes are made from into the process line for a specific amount of time. Once that time is up, the coupon is removed and weighed. Its weight is compared to the weight it was before insertion to determine the amount of mass it lost due to corrosion. The rate of corrosion is expressed in the form of an equation:<\/p>\r\n Corrosion rate (mpy) = weight loss in grams x K factor \/ (alloy density x coupon area x duration in hours), where K = 3.45 x 10^6 for mils per year<\/em><\/p>\r\n These testing procedures are governed by industry standards including ASTM G31<\/a>, ASTM G1<\/a>, and NACE SP0775<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n SMARTCORR\u00ae supplies corrosion coupons in configurations such as strip, disc, ladder, and scale to meet a wide range of monitoring requirements based on the assets. We also provide NACE MR0175-compliant retrieval tools and access fittings rated to 6,000 to 10,000 psi, which enable safe coupon deployment and retrieval in live high-pressure systems.<\/p>\r\n LPR, EIS, and Potentiodynamic Polarization \u2014 3 Electrochemical Methods That Reveal Corrosion Rate in Real Time<\/p>\r\n There are three main electrochemical corrosion testing techniques used in the oil and gas industry. These involve using electrical current to detect changes in the properties of metal that indicate corrosion. The techniques are based on Faraday\u2019s law<\/a>, which is the linear relationship between the rate of corrosion and the corrosion current.<\/p>\r\n SMARTCORR\u00ae supplies corrosion probes using LPR technology to provide instantaneous measurements of corrosion rates in the field. They deliver minimum one-second data logging intervals, feeding the data they collect into the SCEMS software platform for continuous corrosion surveillance. This gives the technology an advantage over coupons that only offer time-averaged rates over weeks or months.<\/p>\r\n One of the drawbacks to electrochemical methods of corrosion testing is that they require the presence of a conductive fluid. In situations where the pipe contains gas or a non-conductive fluid, electrical resistance (ER) probes offer an effective alternative. These measure corrosion by detecting increases in electrical resistance<\/a> caused by the thinning of pipe walls. The loss of mass in the metal leads to a measurable increase in electrical resistance. It is important to note, however, that ER probes measure cumulative metal loss rather than instantaneous corrosion rate.<\/p>\r\n SMARTCORR\u00ae supplies standard as well as high-resolution ER probes with remote data loggers capable of one-second logging intervals. These connect to the SCEMS platform, feeding it data for automated trend analysis and alarm thresholds.<\/p>\r\n When it comes to corrosion testing methods employed in the lab, salt spray testing is by far the most common. As outlined in ASTM B117, this process exposes metallic specimens to a continuous salt fog environment. This tells researchers a lot about the performance of the material under saline exposure, as well as the durability of any coatings.<\/p>\r\n Immersion testing is a variant of this type of lab test that involves exposing samples to oxidizing chloride environments. It is used primarily to measure the material\u2019s corrosion resistance. Cyclic corrosion tests vary the length of the exposure to better simulate real-world conditions than standard salt spray or immersion tests do.<\/p>\r\n When selecting the corrosion testing method for an oil and gas operation, the operators must start by defining their objective. They must decide if they are testing for material qualification, ongoing process monitoring, or failure investigation.<\/p>\r\n For example, material qualification is best handled by lab testing such as salt spray tests. On the other hand, process monitoring should be performed using field probes or coupons. Investigating any failures may require a metallographic or electrochemical analysis.<\/p>\r\n With SMARTCORR\u00ae\u2019s integrated approach, operators gain access to a wide range of testing and monitoring methods. This allows them to deploy the right combination of techniques, all of which can be fed into the SCEMS software for unified analysis and CO2\/H2S corrosion prediction.<\/p>\r\n Probes and coupons provide a wealth of data, but it takes the right software solution to convert all that information into actionable insight. The SCEMS software from SMARTCORR\u00ae automates the calculations from probe and coupon data, using trending algorithms and alarm thresholds to let operators know when action should be taken. It also provides them with access to life expectancy predictions and corrosion rate forecasting from qualified data analysis specialists.<\/p>\r\n All our corrosion monitoring equipment<\/a> and solutions are made to comply with NACE, ANSI, ASTM, API, and ASME standards under triple ISO certification (9001:2015, 14001:2015, 45001:2018). This ensures the test data generated from it meets all the documentation requirements for regulatory submissions and integrity assessments. To learn more about our corrosion monitoring equipment<\/a> and solutions, follow the links or get in touch with us today.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nothing is more important to the oil and gas industry than the integrity of its infrastructure. Ensuring pipes remain intact and in good working order prevents loss of product and productivity, making corrosion one of the most insidious threats operators face. They must keep a close eye on their assets to ensure that piping, pressure … Corrosion Rate Test Methods: A Complete Guide<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4553,"template":"","blog_category":[],"class_list":["post-4550","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartcorrs.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/4550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartcorrs.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartcorrs.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/smartcorrs.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/4550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4560,"href":"https:\/\/smartcorrs.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/4550\/revisions\/4560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartcorrs.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartcorrs.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"blog_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartcorrs.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog_category?post=4550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\r\n\t
How ER Probes Measure Metal Loss in Environments Where Electrochemistry Cannot<\/h2>\r\n
Salt Spray, Immersion, and Cyclic Testing \u2014 Accelerated Lab Methods That Qualify Your Materials Before Deployment<\/h2>\r\n
How to Select the Right Corrosion Rate Test Method for Your Operating Environment<\/h2>\r\n
Turning Raw Data into Maintenance Decisions<\/h2>\r\n