Characterization of Passive Films Formed on As-received and Sensitized AISI 304 Stainless Steel

Abstract

The current research of corrosion resistance of stainless steels mainly focuses on characterization of the passive films by point defect mode and mixed-conduction model. The corrosion resistance of the passive films formed on as-received and sensitized AISI304 stainless steel in borate buffer solution were evaluated in this paper. The degree of sensitization and corrosion resistance of AISI304 stainless steels was evaluated by double loop electrochemical potentiodynamic reactivation and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The passive films formed on the stainless steels were studied by XPS technique. It was found that as-received specimen had higher pitting corrosion potential and corrosion resistance than sensitized one. The Mott-Schottky results showed that sensitized stainless steel had more defects in the passive film than as-received one. The compositions of the passive films were mainly Cr and Fe oxides according to XPS results.