Ferritic stainless steels, corrosion

Rarey, C. R. and Aronson, A. H., Pitting Corrosion of Sensitised Ferritic Stainless Steel , Corrosion, 28, 255 (1972)... 

Ferritic stainless steels depend on chromium for high temperature corrosion resistance. A Cr202 scale may form on an alloy above 600°C when the chromium content is ca 13 wt % (36,37). This scale has excellent protective properties and occurs iu the form of a very thin layer containing up to 2 wt % iron. At chromium contents above 19 wt % the metal loss owiag to oxidation at 950°C is quite small. Such alloys also are quite resistant to attack by water vapor at 600°C (38). Isothermal oxidation resistance for some ferritic stainless steels has been reported after 10,000 h at 815°C (39). Grades 410 and 430, with 11.5—13.5 wt % Cr and 14—18 wt % Cr, respectively, behaved significandy better than type 409 which has a chromium content of 11 wt %. 

Straight chromium ferritic stainless steels are less sensitive to stress corrosion cracking than austenitic steels (18 Cr-8 Ni) but are noted for poor resistance to acidic condensates. 

Steel is the most common constructional material, and is used wherever corrosion rates are acceptable and product contamination by iron pick-up is not important. For processes at low or high pH, where iron pick-up must be avoided or where corrosive species such as dissolved gases are present, stainless steels are often employed. Stainless steels suffer various forms of corrosion, as described in Section 53.5.2. As the corrosivity of the environment increases, the more alloyed grades of stainless steel can be selected. At temperatures in excess of 60°C, in the presence of chloride ions, stress corrosion cracking presents the most serious threat to austenitic stainless steels. Duplex stainless steels, ferritic stainless steels and nickel alloys are very resistant to this form of attack. For more corrosive environments, titanium and ultimately nickel-molybdenum alloys are used. 

The corrosive and mechanical effects of flow are observed in pipes, especially at bends and downstream of flow disturbances, tube and shell heat exchangers, valves and pumps. More corrosion and/or harder materials are used in such areas. Austenitic stainless steels work harden and hence are superior in flowing conditions to ferritic stainless steels of otherwise similar corrosion resistance. Hard... 

Ferritic stainless steels have inferior corrosion resistance compared with austenitic grades of equivalent chromium content, because of the absence of nickel. Stress corrosion cracking can occur in strong alkali. 

There is no evidence that any particular crystal structure is more readily corroded than any other. For example, the difference in the corrosion behaviour of austenitic and ferritic stainless steels is, of course, due to compositional rather than structural differences. 

A more detailed treatment of sensitisation of austenitic stainless steels, of intergranular corrosion of austenitic stainless steels without sensitisation, and of sensitisation and intergranular corrosion of ferritic stainless steels and high-nickel alloys, is given by Cowan and Tedmon . 

Bond, A. P. and Lizlovs, E. A., Intergranular Corrosion of Ferritic Stainless Steel , J. Elec-irochem. Soc., 115, 233C (1968)... 

Hodges, R. J., Intergranular Corrosion in High Purity Ferritic Stainless Steel. Isothermal Time-Temp. Sensitisation Measurements , Corrosion, 27, 164 (1971)... 

The local dissolution rate, passivation rate, film thickness and mechanical properties of the oxide are obviously important factors when crack initiation is generated by localised plastic deformation. Film-induced cleavage may or may not be an important contributor to the growth of the crack but the nature of the passive film is certain to be of some importance. The increased corrosion resistance of the passive films formed on ferritic stainless steels caused by increasing the chromium content in the alloy arises because there is an increased enhancement of chromium in the film and the... 

Fig. 8.72 Effect of applied potential on corrosion fatigue behaviour of a ferritic stainless steel in 3% NaCl (after Amzallag el al )...

The stress-corrosion cracking (SCC) mode of failure was later observed even in the case of ferritic stainless steels. The only clear message from this is that the exact mechanism of failure by this mode is not well established. Alloys containing >34% Ni were found to prolong the time of SCC failure. Ferritic type alloys 430 and 434 are resistant to SCC both in MgCl2 and NaCl environments in the mill-annealed condition, but not in welded conditions. Also, welding impairs the ductility and their resistance to SCC. 

Steel phases have an influence on the rate of corrosion. Ferrite has a weak resistance to pitting. The presence of martensite can increase the hydrogen fragilization of steel. Intermetallic phases as Fe2Mo in high Ni content alloys can influence the corrosion resistance. The precipitate CuA12 in aluminum alloys the series 2000 is more noble than the matrix, with corrosion around the precipitate. The majority of case histories reported in the literature have involved austenitic stainless steels, aluminum alloys, and to a lesser degree, some ferritic stainless steels and nickel-based alloys.31... 

Interconnects are used to electrically connect adjacent cells and to fnnction as gas separators in cell stacks. High-temperatnre corrosion of interconnects is a significant issne in the development of SOFCs. Ferritic stainless steels have many of the desired properties for interconnects bnt experience stability issnes in both the anode and cathode environments. The dnal environments canse an anomalons oxidation for which a mechanistic understanding has yet to be determined. Protective coatings from non-chromium-containing condnctive oxides snch as (Mn,Co)304 spinels look promising bnt need further development. 

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