New insights into the corrosion behaviour of medium manganese steel exposed to a NaCl solution spray

Abstract A medium manganese steel with an appropriate concentration of chromium (0.8 wt.%) and other anti-corrosion elements (0.3Ni-0.3Cu-0.2Mo in wt.%) was studied with the aim of further characterizing the corrosion feature (via corrosion kinetics, XRD, SEM, EPMA and XPS) exposed to a NaCl solution spray. The results reveal that the increased Mn and Cr contents in medium manganese steel change the corrosion performance at different stages. The formation of the initial corrosion product β-FeO(OH) and high cationic fraction of Mn ions directly cause the high corrosion rate. The higher Cr content contributed to providing better protection when the barrier formed.