Corrosion assessment of type 304L stainless steel in nitric acid

AISI type 304L stainless steel (SS) was assessed for its corrosion resistance in nitric acid solution. The effect of variation in nitric acid concentration (I to]ON) and temperature (298 K, 313 K, 333 K, 348 K) on the corrosion resistance of 304L SS was investigated using potentiodynamic polarisation studies. The corrosion resistance of the alloy was also studied in IN nitric acid containing different concentrations of chloride ion (1000, 5000, and 10 000 ppm) in order to understand the tendency to pitting corrosion. The results show; that the corrosion resistance of the material deteriorated for acid concentrations greater than 4N. The temperature of the acid was found to have a profound effect on the corrosion resistance, with corrosion becoming more prominent at temperatures of 333 K and above. Chloride ions lip to a concentration of 10 000 ppm were found to have no effect oil the pitting resistance of the material studied. CEST/2001 The authors are in the Aqueous Corrosion and Surface Studies Section, Corrosion Science and Technology Division, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam 603 102, India (rkd@igcar.ernet.in). Manuscript received 7 October 2002; accepted 22 July 2003. (C) 2003 IoM Communications Ltd Published by Maney for the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.