Oxidation of low-alloy steel in high temperature steam and supercritical water.

The oxidation behaviour of a low-alloy steel T22 was investigated by exposure to ordinary pressure steam (0.1 MPa), high-pressure superheated steam (8 MPa), and supercritical water (SCW) (25 MPa) at 600 °C for 1000 h. The results show the exposure pressure has a significant influence on weight gains and oxide scale morphologies. All the samples approximately obey near-parabolic oxidation kinetics. Some pores are found on the samples exposed to steam while severe cracks are formed in SCW. Further, the influence of steam pressure on the oxidation process is discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]