Abstract
Electrochemical techniques, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used in this study to show how the corrosion mechanism of several commercial grades of stainless steel in hot caustic solution is strongly influenced by the presence of sodium sulfide. Experimental results from super ferritic stainless steel UNS S44660 (26Cr-3Ni-3Mo) were compared to austenitic stainless steel UNS S31603, lean duplex stainless steel (DSS) UNS S32101, and standard DSS UNS S32205 in caustic solution, with and without sodium sulfide, at 443 K (170 °C). Weight loss measurements indicated that corrosion rates of UNS44660 were much lower than the other grades of stainless steel in the presence of the sodium sulfide. Potentiodynamic polarization and linear polarization resistance measurements showed that the electrochemical behavior was altered by the adhesion of sulfur species, which reduced the polarization resistances and increased the anodic current densities. SEM and XPS results imply that the surface films that formed in caustic solution containing sodium sulfide were defective due to the adsorption of sulfide, which destabilized the passive film and led to the formation of insoluble metal sulfide compounds.
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