Enhanced Bio-corrosion Resistance by Cu Alloying in a Micro-alloyed Pipeline Steel

On the composition base of commercial X65 grade pipeline steels, a Cu modified pipeline steel was designed to show improved resistance to microbially induced corrosion (MIC). The mechanical properties of the Cu-added steel and its corrosion behavior in a soil solution inoculated with sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) were investigated in this work. The results demonstrated that Cu-added steel exhibits a good combination of strength and toughness. Cu ions released from the Cu-added steel could effectively kill the SRB attaching on the steel surface, thus evidently decreased the pit depth and diameter of Cu-added steel. Furthermore, during the long-term immersion, the Cu-rich film formed by the enrichment of Cu in the corrosion product layer on the steel surface could also contribute to the improvement of the bio-corrosion resistance of Cu-added steel.