ELECTROCHEMICAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIPELINE CONSTRUCTION STEEL IN OIL-BEARING WATERS

The present work evaluates the electrochemical behavior of the construction steel of an oil pipeline in the presence of two waters of different origins. The electrochemical techniques of linear polarization resistance and polarization curves were used to estimate the resistance of the steel to corrosion when the steel was in contact with the corrosive media. By the physicochemical and microbiological composition of the media, the difference between their corrosive aggressiveness was appreciated, in correspondence with the corrosion speed measurements determined by the Linear Polarization Resistance (LPR) method. The corrosion resistance of the evaluated material was noted to decrease with increasing temperature, in both aqueous media. The polarization curves of the steel showed processes of load transfer and oxygen diffusion in the tests carried out.