Uniform corrosion and intergranular corrosion behavior of nickel-free and manganese alloyed high nitrogen stainless steels

The uniform and intergranular corrosion behavior of two kinds of nickel-free and manganese alloyed high nitrogen stainless steels (HNSSs) were investigated. A type of 316L stainless steel (316L SS) was also included for comparison purpose. Both solution annealed (SA) and sensitization treated (ST) steels were examined. It was found that the SA HNSSs had much weaker resistance to uniform corrosion compared to the SA 316L SS. The addition of molybdenum, to some extent, improved the uniform corrosion resistance of the HNSSs. The sensitization treatment had little influence on the uniform corrosion resistance of all the steels. The HNSSs showed an obvious susceptibility to intergranular corrosion, in particular the ST HNSSs. The intergranular corrosion rates of the sensitized HNSSs were much higher than that of the sensitized 316L SS. The degree of interganular attack for the ST HNSSs was much more serious than that for the 316L SS. The addition of molybdenum obviously improved the resistance of the ST HNSSs to intergranular corrosion. The double loop electrochemical potentiokinetic reactivation tests also proved that the HNSSs were rather susceptible to the sensitization treatment compared to the 3 16L SS. The relatively weak resistance of the HNSSs to uniform and intergranular corrosion may be due to high manganese promoted anodic dissolution. The improvement of uniform and intergranular corrosion resistance caused by the addition of molybdenum could be attributed to the synergistic effects of molybdenum and nitrogen in the HNSSs on the fort-nation and stability of passive film.