Sargın F.Kanbur K.Türkmen İ.2024-07-222024-07-22202300348570http://akademikarsiv.cbu.edu.tr:4000/handle/123456789/12034Heat exchangers (HE) consist of copper and steel pipes and are used for heating and cooling the ambient air. One of the main problems seen in HE is the leakage on copper pipes. In this study, failed and properly working copper pipe samples used for different durations were examined in detail. The microstructural analyses were performed using optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to detect corrosion occurrences on copper pipe surfaces. In addition, corrosion products of the samples were defined by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) and Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses. The formation of interconnected tunnels in cross section of the failed copper pipe sample that were in microscopic dimensions and corrosion products were observed. Consequently, all the analyses result that were obtained from the samples pointed out a corrosion mechanism known as ant-nest corrosion. It was concluded that the main reason of corrosion was related to ethylene glycol type additives which were used in HE along with mains water. © 2023 CSIC.EnglishAll Open Access; Gold Open AccessAdditivesCopper corrosionCopper pipeEnergy dispersive spectroscopyEthyleneEthylene glycolFailure analysisFourier transform infrared spectroscopyPipeline corrosionScanning electron microscopyAmbient airAnt-nest corrosionCorrosion mechanismsCorrosion productsDiffraction energyFan coil unitHeating and coolingMicrostructural analysisPipe surfacesX- ray diffractionsHeat exchangersArticle10.3989/revmetalm.239