Effect of stress and strain on corrosion resistance of duplex stainless steel

Abstract The interplay of the mechanical and electrochemical phenomena has been a subject of active research. In this paper, corrosion resistance studies about SAF2205 and SAF2507 duplex stainless steel were carried out under elastic stress applied (100 MPa, 300 MPa, 500 MPa) and pre-strain (5%, 10%, 15%) in 3.5% NaCl and 2 mol/L HCl solution. Potentiodynamic anodic polarization study revealed that corrosion resistance of SAF2205 duplex stainless steel decreases slightly with increasing of elastic stress level and noticeably with increasing of pre-strained level. Scanning electron microscopy investigation on surface of the electrochemical tested SAF2205 duplex stainless steel samples indicated that pitting is always located in austenite grains when pre-strain level is below 5% (including different elastic stress level) and located on intersection of ferrite and austenite grain when pre-strain level is above 5%. For SAF2507 duplex stainless steel, elastic stress and pre-strain have no effect on general corrosion and pitting corrosion. Based on deformation mechanism of duplex structure and the relationship of mechanical load and corrosion potential, Pitting corrosion behavior of duplex stainless steel is explained and discussed.