| Issue |
MATEC Web Conf.
Volume 188, 2018
5th International Conference of Engineering Against Failure (ICEAF-V 2018)
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 03005 | |
| Number of page(s) | 8 | |
| Section | Metallic Materials II: Damage Accumulation, Structural Integrity, Advanced Manufacturing Techniques | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201818803005 | |
| Published online | 07 August 2018 | |
Copper tubing failure due to ant-nest corrosion
1
ELKEME-Hellenic Research Centre for Metals S.A.,
32011
Oinofyta –Viotia,
Greece
2
National Technical University of Athens, School of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, Division of Metallurgy and Materials, Laboratory of Physical Metallurgy,
9, Her. Polytechniou str.,
Zografos,
GR-157 80,
Athens,
Greece
3
ELVALHALCOR S.A. – HALCOR Copper Tube division,
32011
Oinofyta–Viotia,
Greece
* Corresponding author: gpantaz@elkeme.vionet.com
Ant-nest corrosion is a type of premature and localized failure, which is observed in Cu tubes used mainly in air-conditioning and heat exchanger units, induced by the presence of organic matter. Leakage takes place within a short period of time after unit installation and frequently causes pipeline and equipment damage accompanied with loss of refrigerant liquid. In the present paper, case histories concerning such type of insidious corrosion phenomena are presented. Metallographic examination on cross-sections revealed that a particular pitting corrosion mechanism is activated, driving to a tunnelling-type “tortuous” pit propagation, causing rapid metal tube perforation and leakage.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2018
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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