Hot corrosion studies on fully austenitic stainless steel in air oxidation and simulated waste heat incinerator environment at 600 °C, 650 °C and 700 °C

The purpose of the current study is to compare the hot corrosion performance of SMO 254 exposed to air oxidation and molten salt with a eutectic mixture of 40 wt% Na2SO4 + 40 wt% K2SO4 + 10 wt% NaCl + 10 wt% KCl at 600 degrees C, 650 degrees C and 700 degrees C under cyclic conditions for 50 h period. Kinetics of corrosion were analyzed by thermogravimetric method. By using SEM/EDS, the hot corroded specimens were investigated for surface scales and cross-sectional elemental analysis by point, line mapping methods. An accelerated rate of corrosion rate was noticed in the specimen exposed to molten salt at 700 degrees C, and the lowest rate of corrosion rate was observed in the specimen subjected to air oxidation at 600 degrees C. XRD analysis is done to analyze the corrosion products in the oxide scale.