Electrochemical Property and Erosion-corrosion Resistance of Condenser Materials

The erosion-corrosion behavior of condenser materials including stainless steel plates such as 304, 316L, Sea-Cure, Ti(titanium) produced in Japan and tubes such as Sea-Cure, cupronickel tubes B10, B30, Ti produced in China, America and Japan was investigated via a self-made liquid-solid two-phase flow erosion-corrosion testing machine. Through Vickers hardness test and erosion-corrosion electrochemical test, the erosion-corrosion properties of those materials were ranked and further analyzed. The results showed that resistance to erosion-corrosion of plates was: Sea-Cure>Ti produced in Japan>304>316L, and that of tubes was: Sea-Cure>Ti in China>Ti in America>Ti in Japan>>B30>B10. The performance of Ti produced respectively in China, America and Japan was slightly different. The resistance to erosion-corrosion was mainly determined by hardness of base metals and passivation film repair capacity. Hardness was corresponding to mechanical erosion and the passivation film was corresponding to corrosion. It was suggested that super ferritic stainless steel Sea-Cure should be used as condenser materials in coastal areas to replace common titanium tubes in power condensers.