Corrosion behaviors of pure titanium and its weldment in simulated desulfurized flue gas condensates in thermal power plant chimney

Abstract

The corrosion behaviors of pure titanium and its weldment welded by tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding in simulated desulfurized flue gas condensates in thermal power plant chimney were investigated using potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and immersion tests. The effects of heat input and shielding gases on the corrosion behavior of the welded titanium were also studied. Grain coarsening and Widmanstätten structure were found in both the fusion zone and the heat-affected zone. The welded titanium exhibited active-passive behavior in the simulated condensates. Both the polarization curves and EIS measurements confirmed that TIG welding process with different parameters had few effects on the corrosion behavior. It was proved that the microstructure changes were not the key material factors affecting the corrosion behavior of pure titanium under the test conditions, while the oxide film had remarkable effect on improving the corrosion resistance.