Influence of nickel alloying on hot corrosion of stainless steels in SO2-environment

Flue dust produced by copper flash smelting causes problems by forming corrosive melts on the walls of heat recovery boiler used to recover the process heat value and to separate flue dust from SO2-rich gas, derived from smelting sulphidic copper ore, before manufacture of sulphuric acid. The corrosion phenomena of molybdenum containing low and high nickel stainless steels AISI 316 and Sanicro 28 were studied by simulating the conditions prevailing in the heat recovery boiler in laboratory in the temperature range of 250–350°C. ZnCl2 in copper smelter flue dust resulted in partial melting of the deposit containing sulphates and oxides of copper, zinc, arsenic, iron and lead, which increased the rate of corrosion dramatically. Chlorination of the steel was the dominant corrosion mechanism. The high nickel steel corroded more than low nickel steel due to reactivity of nickel under molten sulphates.