WEAR AND CORROSION STUDIES ON FERRITIC STAINLESS STEEL (SS 409M)

Abstract

The wear and corrosion behavior of SS 409M have been evaluated and compared with Mild steel ferritic stainless steel SS 430, and austenitic stainless steel SS 304. The SS 409M is a utility grade ferritic stainless steel, and has a very low Ni percentage less than 0.30%. Annealed SS 409M contains ferrite and low percentage of tempered martensite whereas normalized SS 409M has low ferrite and higher percentage of tempered martensite. The manufacturing cost for this steel is low as compared to other grades of stainless steel but it has high strength with excellent corrosion resistance, abrasion resistance and can be easily fabricated. Thus SS 409M has been found to be a suitable material for replacing mild steel in structural applications. SS 409M has also got good wear resistance and this can be considered as an alternate material for mild steel in the railway wagons, track armor, and chemical tanks. The dry wear test has been carried out using the pin on disc machine for all the specimens. The results show that 409M has higher wear resistance as compared to mild steel and SS 430. The corrosion test has been carried out using the potentiostat for SS 409M both in annealed and in the normalized condition and the results are compared with SS 430 and SS 304. SS 304 and SS 430 stainless steels show excellent corrosion resistance while SS 409M both in annealed and in normalized condition reveal higher corrosion resistance than mild steel. Results are discussed with published work on these steels.