Characterization of blasted austenitic stainless steel and its corrosion resistance

It is known that the corrosion resistance of stainless steel is deteriorated by blasting, but the reason for this deterioration is not clear. A blasted austenitic stainless steel plate (JIS-SUS304) has been characterized with comparison to the scraped and non-blasted specimens. The surface roughness of the blasted specimen is larger than that of materials finished with #180 paper. A martensite phase is formed in the surface layer of both blasted and scraped specimens. Compressive residual stress is generated in the blasted specimen and the maximum residual stress is formed at 50–100 µm from the surface. The corrosion potentials of the blasted specimen and subsequently solution treated specimen are lower than that of the non-blasted specimen. The passivation current densities of the blasted specimens are higher those of the non-blasted specimen. The blasted specimen and the subsequently solution treated specimen exhibit rust in 5% sodium chloride (NaCl) solution, while the non-blasted specimen and ground specimen do not rust in the solution. It is concluded that the deterioration of corrosion resistance of austenitic stainless steel through blasting is caused by the roughed morphology of the surface.