Biodiesel compatibility with carbon steel and hdpe parts
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Abstract
8 p.: il., tab.Compatibility of the new environmentally-friendly alternative of diesel engine fuels, biodiesel, with storage
and engine part materials, is still an open issue. In this work, the interaction between three fuels (petroleum
diesel and two types of biodiesel — soybean and sunflower) and two materials (carbon steel and high density
polyethylene) used in storage and automotive tanks, is analyzed in detail. A wide set of characterization
techniques was used to evaluate the changes in both solid and fluid materials, as weight change
measurement, optical, scanning electron and atomic force (AFM) microscopies, Raman and FTIR spectroscopies,
and differential scanning calorimetry. The AFM technique allowed detecting surface roughness and
morphology changes in the metallic material following the trends in the weight losses. In the case of
polymeric material, weight gain by fluid absorption occurred, being detected by the spectroscopic
techniques. The biodiesel fuels underwent some ageing however this phenomenon did not affect the
interaction between the biodiesel fuels and the substrates. The petrodiesel, which did not age, caused more
significant degradation of the substrates