Galvanic corrosion of gas tungsten arc repair welds in 17-4PH stainless steel in 3·5% NaCl solution

Abstract

In this paper, the galvanic corrosion of individual components of a 17-4PH repair welded stainless steel in 3·5% NaCl solution was investigated using various dc electrochemical measurements and microscopy. Open circuit potential measurement of the regions in the vicinity of a repair weld [i.e. parent metal, weld metal and heat affected zone (HAZ)] in 17-4PH stainless steel in 3·5% NaCl solution indicated that the most likely galvanic couple was between HAZ and weld with the HAZ acting as the anode and weld metal as the cathode. Slow scan rate potentiodynamic polarisation measurement of pitting potentials revealed a lower passive current density and a higher pitting potential in the weld region, while the HAZ showed the highest passive current density and the lowest pitting potential. Observation of the material after applying an anodic potential close to the pitting potential of the individual weld parts also confirmed the formation of several stable pits in the HAZ but only a few metastable pits in the weld and parent metal zones. Galvanic coupling using a zero resistance ammeter also showed a higher current density in the weld metal/HAZ as compared with the parent metal/HAZ and parent metal/weld galvanic couples. Although, the current densities in all measurements were in the range of a few to tenths of nanoampere per square centimetre, it can still be concluded that the weld metal/HAZ couple has the highest risk of galvanic corrosion among the three individual galvanic couples.