Material development to meet today's demands

The construction of the early platforms in the North Sea often stretched materials technology to its limits and sometimes beyond them. There are many instances where major pumps or piping systems have had to be replaced either because the original materials were not sufficient for the duty or because the process fluids have become more corrosive during the life of the oilfield. The paper reviews the considerable work that has been carried out in recent years specially directed at developing stainless steels capable of withstanding a number of the harsh corrosion environments met on off‐shore platforms. The latest stainless steels are able to withstand all the standard seawater duties without suffering from localised pitting or crevice corrosion. Their resistance to hydrogen sulphide stress corrosion means they can cope with the most sour process fluids at present met in the North Sea.