Since publication of ANSI/NACE MR0175/ISO 15156 in 2003 there has been much debate on the performance of austenitic stainless steels in oil and gas production environments, with researchers recommending relaxation of the ISO 15156 restrictions for this material. This paper describes a recent austenitic stainless steel stress corrosion cracking failure and discusses its implications for the current restrictions of the ISO standard and recently proposed relaxations of these restrictions.
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