STIFLING OF CREVICE CORROSION IN ALLOY 22

Artificially creviced Alloy 22 (N06022) specimens may be susceptible to crevice corrosion in presence of hot chloride containing solutions. The presence of oxyanions in the electrolyte, especially nitrate, may inhibit the nucleation and growth of crevice corrosion. Constant potential tests were performed using tightly creviced specimens of Alloy 22. It was found that crevice corrosion may initiate when a constant potential above the crevice repassivation potential is applied. It was found that as the crevice corrosion nucleated, the current initially increased but later decreased. The net measured current can be converted into penetration following a power law fit of the experimental data. The average power law coefficient ''n'' was found to be 0.439, suggesting that even under constant applied potential, crevice corrosion penetration is diffusion controlled