Pit Initiation Behavior at Sulfide Particles in Sintered Stainless Steels

Abstract

The pit initiation sites for commercial stainless steels have been attributed to sulfide inclusions such as MnS. The chemical composition of the inclusions affects the pitting corrosion resistance of stainless steels. Systematic investigation on the relationship between the chemical composition of the inclusions and the pitting corrosion resistance is required. However, it is difficult to prepare a series of the steel specimens of which the chemical composition of the inclusions is precisely controlled. In this study, spark plasma sintering was used to fabricate stainless steel specimens containing sulfide particles, and a microelectrochemical technique was applied to analyze the effect of the chemical composition of the sulfides on the pitting corrosion resistance of stainless steels. A type 304 stainless steel powder was mixed with a MnS powder to prepare the sintered specimen containing 0.03 mass% S. The particle sizes of the stainless steel and the MnS powder were –100 mesh and –325 mesh, respectively. The mixed powders were loaded into a cylindrical graphite die and were compressed using a hydraulic press. The pressed compact was spark plasma sintered in vacuum, under uniaxial pressure at 30 MPa. The sintered specimen was ground with SiC papers and then was polished with an 1 µm diamond paste. Potentiodynamic polarization was conducted in naturally aerated 0.1 M NaCl (pH 5.5) at 298 K. The specimen surface was masked to make an electrode area of ca. 100 µm × 100 µm containing a sulfide particle. All the potentials reported in this study refer to the Ag/AgCl (3.33 M KCl) electrode (0.206 V vs. standard hydrogen electrode at 298 K). The potential scan rate was 3.8 × 10-4 V/s. The anodic polarization curve was measured in 0.1 M NaCl to characterize the pit initiation behavior at the MnS particle in the sintered stainless steel. Polarization was started at –0.2 V and was stopped after the large increase in the current density was measured. The electrode area was observed using an optical microscope after polarization. The MnS particle partly dissolved, and the pit was found at the boundary between the particle and the steel matrix. This suggests that the large current increase was attributed to the pit initiation at the particle. It is expected that the sintered specimen can be used to investigate the pit initiation behavior at the sulfides in stainless steels.