It has been well documented that slab internal quality is one of the key factors for reduced susceptibility of hydrogen induced cracking (HIC) in line pipe steels designed for sour gas service. In addition, the creation of a homogeneous microstructure which is heavily influenced by the slab internal quality is also a critical key parameter to reduce the HIC susceptibility in higher strength line pipe steel grade X60 and above. For the application of deep sea linepipe exposed to higher external pressure environments, heavy gauge in combination with higher strength steel is essential. Homogeneity of the steel microstructure is a key to success for thicker plates used in sour service HIC applications in combination with a deep sea environment.
In this paper, various microstructures were compared along with an evaluation of the effects of the various microstructures on HIC susceptibility in grades X52, X65 and X70 designed for sour service. The various microstructures compared consisted of polygonal ferrite and pearlite in the X52 and polygonal ferrite, pearlite, acicular ferrite and bainite in the X65 and X70. The effect of microstructural inhomogeneity on HIC susceptibility was comparatively lower for the X52 than that of the X65 and X70. The microstructure of grade X65 and X70 were different due to the different conditions of rolling and cooling that were applied. Grades X65/X70 had a microstructure of polygonal ferrite/pearlite with bainite islands that resulted in a high crack length ratio (CLR) value caused by different hardness regions across the microstructural matrix. A homogeneous fine acicular ferrite microstructure produced by optimizing temperature control during rolling and cooling showed no hydrogen induced cracking. In addition, this alloy/process/microstructure design resulted in improved toughness results in low temperature drop weight tear test (DWTT). This paper will describe the successful production results of plate and pipe for high strength heavier gauge line pipe steels with highly homogeneous microstructures designed for sour service by controlling chemical design and process conditions in rolling and cooling.
In addition, HIC evaluation methods utilizing both a traditional NACE TM0284 method versus that of a Scan-UT method were conducted and compared. A proposal to make the NACE TM0284 testing method more reliable by using Scan-UT method will be presented.
