SULFIDE INDUCED CORROSION OF COPPER NICKEL-ALLOYS

Recently the U. S. Navy has been carrying out investigations to determine cause(s) of accelerated corrosion of 90/10 Copper-Nickel (Cu-Ni) piping in several systems of newly constructed ships. After initial efforts pointed to sulfide induced corrosion as the cause of pitting, experimental tasks were developed to explore the limits of susceptibility of Cu-Ni alloys to such attack as well as means of its prevention and control. The experiments and results reported here deal with the susceptibility of 90/10 and 70/30 Cu-Ni, and a nickel-30% copper (Cu-Ni) alloy to accelerated corrosion in sea water containing controlled amounts of low concentrations sulfides.