Effect of Alloying Elements (Cu, Al, Si) on the Electrochemical Corrosion Behaviors of TWIP Steel in a 3.5 % NaCl Solution

The corrosion behaviors of twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) steels with different alloying elements (Cu, Al, Si) in a neutral aqueous environment were investigated in terms of the characteristics of the corrosion products formed on the steel surface. The corrosion behavior was evaluated by measuring potentiodynamic polarization test and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. For compositional analysis of the corrosion products formed on the steel surface, an electron probe x-ray micro analyzer was also utilized. This study showed that the addition of Cu to the steel contributed to the increase in corrosion resistance to a certain extent by the presence of metallic Cu in discontinuous form at the oxide/steel interface. Compared to the case of steel with Cu, the Al-bearing specimen exhibited much higher polarization resistance and lower corrosion current by the formation of a thin Al-enriched oxide layer. On the other hand, Si addition (3.0 wt%) to the steel led to an increase in grain size, which was twice as large as that of the other specimens, resulting in a deterioration of the corrosion resistance. This was closely associated with the localized corrosion attacks along the grain boundaries by the formation of a galvanic couple with a large cathode-small anode.