Investigation of the Corrosion of Steels in Marine Environment Using Orientation Imaging Microscopy / Untersuchung der Korrosion von Stählen in Meeresumgebung mittels orientierungsabbildender Rasterelektronenmikroskopie

Abstract

Steels find a wide application for constructions in marine environment, such as ships, platforms offshore and pipelines. Because of the see water being a highly aggressive medium, corrosion of these materials plays an important role with respect to security and economy. The corrosion behaviour is quite different in the different crystal directions in the case of a single crystal. In polycrystalline materials the chemical resistivity is dependant not only on the chemical composition, but also on the orientation of the grains and so on the texture of the sheet. The kind of the grain boundaries is another microstructural aspect of great importance here. In this paper Orientation Imaging Microscopy (OIM TM ) and White Light Interferometry (WLI) are used to investigate the correlation between corrosion behaviour and microstructure of low carbon steels for marine application.