Carbon nitriding is the external corrosion failure mechanism for stainless steel tubes in my process. The 304LNSS tubes are used for heating the process inside a reactor. On cool down, the external carbon nitride layer spalls off due to the thermal shock. As long as the process is kept at operating temperature, the carbon nitride layer stays intact and no spalling occurs.. Would a surface preparation, such as, shot peening have any significant influence on the carbonnitriding rate in my process?
