Imitating seasonal temperature fluctuations for the H2S corrosion of 304L and 316L austenitic stainless steels

Temperature fluctuations are inevitable in sour oil and gas production. In this study, the H2S corrosion of 304L and 316L alloys was investigated at pH 3 and temperatures of 20–60 °C using DC and AC electrochemical techniques. Two-fold increases in the corrosion rates of both alloys were reported with increases in temperature to 60 °C. In the 304L alloy, the surface layer was observed to be 3% rougher and 34% thicker than that of the 316L alloy. The two alloys exhibited different corrosion behaviors in the temperature ranges of 20–40 °C and 40–60 °C. Although the 316L alloy revealed a greater corrosion resistance at the free potential condition, the passivation on the 304L alloy was significantly greater than that of the 316L alloy at 40 °C and 15 ppm H2S. The FeS2 and combined FeS2-MoS2 compounds contributed to the surface layer constituents in the 304L and 316L alloys, respectively. The increase in temperature kinetically provided more favorable conditions for FeS2 than MoS2 formation, i.e. it had a relatively constructive effect on the 304L alloy passivation.