Influence of temperature on the corrosion and tribocorrosion behaviour of High-Strength Low-Alloy steels used in offshore applications

Tribocorrosion is an important failure cause of High-Strength Low-Alloy steel (HSLA) components in offshore applications due to the synergistic effect of wear and the corrosiveness of seawater. In this work, the effect of temperature on the tribocorrosion behaviour of two steel grades has been investigated by performing tribocorrosion tests under reciprocating sliding at two electrolyte temperatures. The total material loss due to corrosion in the unworn surface and due to tribocorrosion in the wear track was quantified. Sliding was found to accelerate the corrosion in the unworn area. Furthermore, temperature was confirmed to have an important effect on the tribocorrosion behaviour of the steels, in terms of higher material losses due to corrosion at higher test temperature.