USED FOR:
(Parts 1–3) Petroleum and natural gas industries – Materials for use in H₂S containing environments in oil and gas production
Selecting and qualifying metallic materials, carbon/low-alloy steels, corrosion-resistant alloys for sour (H₂S-containing) service.
RELATED STANDARDS:
- ASME B31.3 / ISO 13703 (and other governing design codes)
- NACE TM0177 – Laboratory Testing of Metals for Resistance to SSC and SCC in H2S Environments
- ASTM base material specifications (A105, A106, A182, A333, etc.)
- API 6A / API 5CT (and other upstream product standards)
DIMENSIONAL RANGE:
Not applicable in the usual NPS/DN sense, ISO 15156 governs material qualification, not component sizing, so it applies uniformly across any pipe size within the design code’s scope. What actually bounds its applicability is an environmental severity point rather than a dimensional one: sour service is triggered once H2S partial pressure in the gas phase reaches around 0.05 psia (≈0.3 kPa), and for CRA selection under Part 3, the applicable domain narrows further based on in-situ pH, chloride content, and temperature (per the Annex A tables). Once a line crosses that reference point, hardness limits apply across the board, typically 22 HRC (≈250 HV10) for carbon and low-alloy steels, regardless of the pipe diameter.
DESCRIPTION:
Known worldwide by its joint designation, NACE MR0175/ISO 15156. Part 1 covers general principles, Part 2 covers carbon and low-alloy steels, Part 3 covers CRAs and other alloys. It addresses cracking mechanisms specifically, sulfide stress cracking, hydrogen-induced cracking, stress corrosion cracking; not general corrosion. On any sour-service line list, this is the document that decides which material grades, hardness limits, and heat treatments are even permissible before you get to strength or corrosion-allowance calculations.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
It supplements, but never replaces, the requirements of the governing design code (ASME B31.3, ISO 13703, etc.). A fifth edition restructuring is underway, reorganizing the parts around “materials and processing requirements” versus “service environment assessment” worth checking which edition a contract references, since the internal numbering is shifting.
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