Damage mechanism at different transpassive potentials of solution-annealed 316 and 316l stainless steels

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), anodic polarization and scanning electron microscopy techniques were used to investigate the damage mechanism in the transpassive potential region of AISI 316 and AISI 316L solution-annealed stainless steels (SS) with different degrees of sensitization. Depending on the DC potential applied during EIS tests, the AC responses in the transpassive region included three different regions: the first one associated with anodic dissolution of the passive layer, the second one contributed to the dissolution at the area near grain boundaries, and the last one attributed to pitting corrosion. In addition, the fitting results to experimental data showed that as the DC bias during the EIS test increases the charge transfer resistance (Rct) decreases. Moreover, the Rct values decreased as the sensitization temperature increases but the AISI 316L SS samples exhibited a higher resistance to intergranular corrosion than 316 SS samples.