Weldment properties and service performance underpin the integrity of production facilities. In particular, the achievement of acceptable properties is essential in designing sour service systems where
hardness restrictions are employed to achieve resistance to sulphide stress cracking (SSC). This paper presents the outcome of an extensive systematic study to establish weld hardness limits for the domain of sour service. The project covered five categories of linepipe steels within API grades X52 to X80 by evaluating the performance of thermally simulated and actual welds in a wide range of environmental conditions. The outcome has extended the application domains of sour service for welds
enabling a greater degree of flexibility in sour service conditions and a major departure from the restrictions of NACE MR0175, i.e. 22 HRC.
Keywords: Corrosion, Domains of Sour Service, Linepipe, Sulphide Stress Cracking Sour Service Production, Weld Hardness.