Pitting corrosion behavior of UNS S31803 AND UNS S32304 duplex stainless steels in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution

Abstract

This work examined the pitting corrosion resistance of two types of duplex stainless steels: UNS S31803, with molybdenum, and UNS S32304, without molybdenum. Cyclic potentiodynamic polarization and critical pitting temperature (CPT) tests were performed in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used for analysis of the pits on the surface of samples. The two steels studied presented susceptible to pitting corrosion in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution. UNS S31803 steel showed a higher corrosion potential (Ecorr), pitting potential (Epit), and polarization resistance (Rp) compared to UNS S32304 steel. It was also observed that the UNS S31803 steel showed higher capacity to repassivation and CPT than the UNS S32304 steel.