Corrosion Pit to Crack Transition Behavior of 304 Stainless Steel in a Chloride Solution

Abstract

Corrosion pit to crack transition behaviors of forged 304 Stainless steel were investigated in ferric chloride solution. The combined effect of corrosion and stresses were considered. The residual stresses were revealed by XRD analysis. As an outcome, the FESEM and EDX were used to analyze the surface morphology. The high-speed camera was used to detect any changes in the pitting surface. The average pit depth, pit geometry, corrosion rate, and crack at the pit base were briefly summarized. In conclusion, the combined effect of corrosion medium and the residual stresses at pit base leads to the stress corrosion cracking of the stainless steel in ferric chloride solution. Additionally, the three different phases of stress corrosion cracking of 304 SS in ferric chloride solution, such as (i) rapid corrosion action; (ii) nucleation of microcrack and propagation; (iii) active crack growth rate, and plastic deformation zone, were discussed.

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Vol.:(0123456789)
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Journal of Bio- and Tribo-Corrosion (2022) 8:33
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40735-022-00633-9
Corrosion Pit toCrack Transition Behavior of304 Stainless Steel
inaChloride Solution
SurinderPal1 · ShailendraSinghBhadauria1· PramodKumar2
Received: 18 August 2021 / Revised: 10 December 2021 / Accepted: 10 January 2022 / Published online: 17 January 2022
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022
Abstract
Corrosion pit to crack transition behaviors of forged 304 Stainless steel were investigated in ferric chloride solution. The
combined effect of corrosion and stresses were considered. The residual stresses were revealed by XRD analysis. As an
outcome, the FESEM and EDX were used to analyze the surface morphology. The high-speed camera was used to detect
any changes in the pitting surface. The average pit depth, pit geometry, corrosion rate, and crack at the pit base were briefly
summarized. In conclusion, the combined effect of corrosion medium and the residual stresses at pit base leads to the stress
corrosion cracking of the stainless steel in ferric chloride solution. Additionally, the three different phases of stress corrosion
cracking of 304 SS in ferric chloride solution, such as (i) rapid corrosion action; (ii) nucleation of microcrack and propaga-
tion; (iii) active crack growth rate, and plastic deformation zone, were discussed.
Keywords Corrosion· Stainless steel· Pitting· Chloride· Residual stress
Abbreviations
SCC Stress corrosion cracking
SS Stainless steel
FESEM Field emission scanning electron microscope
pH Potential of hydrogen
FeCl3 Ferric chloride
DM Demineralized wWater
XRD X-Ray diffraction
EDX Energy dispersive X-ray analysis
Hrs.: Hours
Avg. Average
w.r.t With respect to
1 Introduction
304 austenitic stainless steel is commonly used because of
its various industrial applications, practical use, and sensi-
ble price. However, in industrial application, it transports
chloride contained gas and crude oil, which provides an
aggressive environment and leads to service metal pitting
and further stress corrosion cracking. The destructive nature
of these chloride solutions acts contrariwise at different tem-
peratures. The pitting corrosion in stainless steel occurred
primarily due to chloride environments, but the depth and
density of pits were noticeable [1–3]. Further, the chloride
environment expedites pitting corrosion behavior, break-
downs down the protective film, and damages the material,
depending on Cr and Ni [4]. Since the pitting potential is
reduced with a temperature rise. The temperature becomes
a crucial parameter for the corrosion resistance of SS [5, 6].
Mainly, the factors comprising chloride concentration and
temperature impacted the pitting potential of the stainless
steel [7].
Pal etal. examined the surge in pitting corrosion rate with
a rise in temperature of 50°C. It determines appropriate care
should be taken while using 304 SS at high temperatures
[8]. In the previous laboratory examination, it was found
that the initial cracks appeared to start from corrosion pits
and later advanced from corrosion pits to surface arbitrarily
[9–12]. However, pitting is the pioneer to stress corrosion
cracking. The vital phases in crack growth include pit initia-
tion, pit growth, pit to crack transition, short crack growth,
extensive crack growth. There were data on the growth rate
of extended cracks in several simulated atmospheres [13].
Although Baker etal. investigated the near-neutral pH stress
* Surinder Pal
surinder92.pal@gmail.com
1 Department ofIndustrial andProduction Engineering, Dr.
B R Ambedkar National Institute ofTechnology, Jalandhar,
India
2 Department ofMechanical Engineering, Dr. B R Ambedkar
National Institute ofTechnology, Jalandhar, India
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