Effect of Solution Annealing on Corrosion Resistance of Austenitic Stainless Steels in Chloride-Containing Environment

Austenitic stainless steels are highly corrosion-resistant in common oxidation environments. However, aggressive chloride-containing solutions can evoke local corrosion, which performs an important risk in the safe use of these materials. This research deals with the effect of the solution annealing (1050 °C, 15 min) on the electrochemical parameters of AISI 304 and AISI 316L stainless steels. Corrosion resistance of the solution-annealed specimens is evaluated and compared to the as received specimens by the potentiodynamic polarization test performed in 1M pH neutral NaCl solution at the 20 ± 3 °C temperature. The obtained results did not clearly confirm the positive effect of solution annealing on corrosion resistance in the given aggressive solution. Although the pitting potentials indicating higher pitting corrosion resistance increased, the kinetics of the corrosion process intensified.