Corrosion and Other Problems in the Use of Metals at High Temperatures in the Chemical Industries
SourceMost of the operations employed in the chemical industries are effected at temperatures so moderate that the temperature alone does not impose any particularly severe requirements upon the materials of construction. By far the greater number of chemical engineering processes are conducted at below 200° C. (390° F.). In such processes corrosion is usually the principal cause of deterioration, and temperature is an important factor only in so far as it affects the rate of corrosion. There are, however, several important classes of chemical operations that are conducted at temperatures much above the ordinary. In the selection of materials of construction for use in such processes we must, of course, take into consideration the effect of the high temperature upon the chemical and physical properties.