Duplex and super duplex stainless steels are widely used by the Oil and Gas industry for handling slightly sour process fluids. These alloys have limits, beyond which sulphide stress corrosion cracking (SSCC) is likely. In NACE MR0175 the operating limits of alloys are usually defined by a maximum hardness and an H2S limit limit. For one or two alloys another parameter may also be specified. The present paper has collected together a body of evidence, some of it previously unpublished, to show that the susceptibility to SSCC depends on a number of environmental
variables, ie, temperature, chloride, pH and H2S, as well as several metallurgical variables eg. microstructure and degree of cold work. The data for one alloy, a proprietary super duplex stainless steel, is used to show how these variables inter-relate, and where the alloy maybe safely
used. The results clearly show that NACE MR0175 is inadequate for specifying the limits of use of a duplex or super duplex stainless steel, The authors suggest that where an alloy is thought likely to be useful and the conditions are outside the scope of MR0175, testing as specified in the European Federation of Corrosion document on CRA’S (Publication No. 17), should be carried out.