Effect of Mo contents on corrosion behaviors of welded duplex stainless steel

The corrosion behaviour and change of the phase fraction in welded 24Cr Duplex stainless steel was investigated for different chemical composition ranges of Mo contents. Filler metal was produced by fixing the contents of Cr, Ni, N, and Mn while adjusting the Mo content to 0.5, 1.4, 2.5, 3.5 wt%. The delta-ferrite fraction was observed to increase as the content of Mo increased. A polarisation test conducted in a salt solution, indicated the pitting corrosion potential increased continuously to 3.5 wt% Mo, while the corrosion potential changed most between 0.5 and 1.41 wt% Mo. The location of the pitting corrosion in 0.5 wt% Mo steel was randomly distributed, but it occurred selectively at the grain boundary between the gamma- and delta-ferrite phases in 1.4, 2.5 and 3.5 wt% Mo steel. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy mapping analysis showed that areas deficient in Cr, Mo, and Ni occurred around the grain boundary of the gamma- and delta-ferrite phases. Non-metallic inclusions are thought to act as initiation points for the pitting corrosion that occurs in the salt solution initially as a result of the potential difference between the matrix structure and the incoherent inclusions.