Beryllium copper (UNS C17200) has been used in downhole pressure and temperature gauges on two gas condensate fields. The gauge was exposed to a production annulus packer fluid with 1.2 s.g. NaCl. Serious corrosion damage on the UNS C17200 component was discovered on one of the fields after only 2 years service. A series of corrosion tests have therefore been performed to evaluate the corrosion resistance of UNS C17200 in a NaCl based packer fluid. The effects of temperature, pH and galvanic coupling area to UNS N07718 where investigated. In addition, tests were performed both with and without thiocyanate corrosion inhibitor. The testing included weight loss measurements, corrosion potential monitoring and galvanic current measurements. Results show that UNS C17200 is unstable in the tested environments and that all factors included in the test had an impact on the corrosion rate; the corrosion rate increased with decreasing pH, increasing temperature, increasing galvanic area and with the addition of thiocyanates.
KEYWORDS: UNS C17200, UNS N07718, general corrosion, brines, thiocyanate