The Degradation of the most Common Stainless Steels: Real Case Issues

Abstract

Stainless steel may be susceptible to localized corrosion. Despite this fact, still too many infrastructures are planned with an inadeguate metal chemical composition or placed in wrong environments. In most cases, a clear underestimation of these factors affects the stainless steel durability. These unexpected issues cause a significant technical and economical impact. In this work, several case studies of Inox exposed to unfavorable environmental conditions are presented. A wide range of structures, such as house handles, a swimming pool, a parapet, an industry plant and a waste water collection tank are investigated with respect to the corrosion behavior. Temperature and humidity cyclic variation, promote the enrichments of aggressive agents and lead to degradation. A too low Molybdenum content of the steels is inadequate for some type of structures and service conditions. The weldability changes depending on the steel type and along the thermally affected zones, intergranular corrosion may appear. In addition, a galvanic contact of the stainless steel with existing low alloyed steels components promotes the deterioration of the latter.