Blogs

As the use of additive manufacturing (AM) expands into more critical applications, establishing confidence in the expected performance and reliability of AM components also becomes more critical. However, very little information has been presented with regard to the use of AM within the chemical process industry (CPI). The harsh and demanding environments of chemical process industries present unique and challenging conditions for AM components to withstand. To help address this lack of information, a case study AM component was created to showcase the types of features that can be made using the AM process while designing for chemical processes and marine applications. 

Immersion corrosion testing of AM and wrought alloys were performed in a reducing inorganic acid, an oxidizing inorganic acid, and an organic acid. Immersion tests were also performed in the marine environment for AM materials to traditional wrought materials. Corrosion rates of AM alloy vs wrought alloys in above mentioned conditions and the effect of microstructure due to exposure to the acids and salts will be presented.