Corrosion Resistance and Mechanical Properties of Carbon Steel under a High Temperature Pressurized Water

The long-term corrosion strength properties for the carbon steels under pressurized water atmosphere have been investigated, in the conjunction with the detailed analysis of their microstructures. The corrosion test for carbon steels was carried out at the temperature of 200°C under a water pressure of 10 MPa. The corrosion test samples were maintained up to 50 weeks in the tube shaped reactor. The mechanical strength and the microstucture of carbon steels suffered from the long term corrosion test were evaluated by SEM, XRD and tensile test. The weight loss of carbon steel by the corrosion test was also examined. The tensile strength of carbon steels decreased with the increase of corrosion time under a pressurized water atmosphere, accompanying the creation of severe corrosion damages like stress corrosion crack.