Surface Crack Growth Behavior of Pipeline Steel Under Disbonded Coating at Free Corrosion Potential in Near-Neutral pH Soil Environments

Crack growth behavior of X65 pipeline steel at free corrosion potential in near-neutral pH soil environment under a CO2 concentration gradient inside a disbonded coating was studied. Growth rates were found to be highest at the open mouth of the simulated disbondment where CO2 concentrations, hence local hydrogen concentration in the local environment, was highest. Careful analysis of growth rate data using a corrosion-fatigue model of the form ΔK α /K max /f γ , where (1/f γ ) models environmental contribution to growth, revealed that environmental contribution could vary by up to a factor of three. Such intense environmental contribution at the open mouth kept the crack tip atomically sharp despite the simultaneous occurrence of low-temperature creep and crack tip dissolution, which are the factors that blunt the crack tip. At other locations where environmental enhancement was lower, significant crack tip blunting attributed to both low-temperature creep and crack tip dissolution was observed. These factors both led to lower crack growth rates away from the open mouth.