Corrosion types grain boundary

Lewis, E. C., Grain Boundary Corrosion of Sensitised Type 304 Stainless Steel by a Noble-to-active Polarisation Scan , J. Electrochem. Soc., 119, 219C (1972)... 

Austenitic steels of the 304S15 type are normally heat treated at 1 050°C and cooled at a fairly rapid rate to remove the effects of cold or hot working, and in this state much of the carbon is in supersaturated solid solution. Reheating to temperatures below the solution treatment temperature leads to the formation of chromium-rich MjjCj precipitates predominantly at the grain boundaries with the production of chromium gradients and reduced corrosion resistance as is the case with the martensitic steels. Any attack is... 

Another type of nickel alloy with which problems of intergranular corrosion may be encountered is that based on Ni-Cr-Mo containing about 15% Cr and 15% Mo. In this type of alloy the nature of the grain boundary precipitation responsible for the phenomenon is more complex than in Ni-Cr-Fe alloys, and the precipitates that may form during unfavourable heat treatment are not confined to carbides but include at least one inter-metallic phase in addition. The phenomenon has been extensively studied in recent years . The grain boundary precipitates responsible are molybdenum-rich M C carbide and non-stoichiometric intermetallic ix... 

The austenitic stainless steels that are not stabilized or that are not of the extra-low-carbon types, when heated in the temperature range of 450 to 843°C (850 to 1,550°F), have chromium-rich compounds (chromium carbides) precipitated in the grain boundaries. This causes grain-boundary impoverishment of chromium and makes the affected metal susceptible to intergranular corrosion in many environments. Hot nitric acid is one environment which causes severe... 

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