Influence of molybdenum on microstructure and pitting corrosion behavior of solution-treated duplex stainless steel in a lithium chloride solution

Abstract

With technological advances in the several areas of knowledge, the constant search for materials with characteristics that meet certain applications has been growing, especially in the chemical and petrochemical industries, where materials capable of withstanding the conditions of corrosion in aggressive environments are required. The aim of this paper was to analyze the influence of the alloy element molybdenum on the microstructure and the resistance to corrosion of two duplex stainless steels identified as A (with molybdenum) and B (without molybdenum), after solution-treated under the following conditions: heating at 1100°C for 30, 120 and 240 minutes. The steels were characterized by SEM, EDS, DRX and microhardness. The rise in solution treatment time fostered an increase in the volumetric fraction of the ferrite phase, in both steels. The solution treatment at 1100°C for 120 minutes, for steels A and B, provided good resistance to pit corrosion, as well as the development of a passivating film in the solution of lithium chloride (120,000 ppm of chloride ions).