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Ennoblement of stainless steel in natural seawater – A new explanation
Author(s) -
Xiangbo L.,
Jia W.,
Wei W.,
Hongren W.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
materials and corrosion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.487
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1521-4176
pISSN - 0947-5117
DOI - 10.1002/maco.200503970
Subject(s) - seawater , electrochemistry , corrosion , metallurgy , metal , polarization (electrochemistry) , materials science , anode , current density , chemistry , electrode , physics , geology , oceanography , quantum mechanics
The ennoblement of corrosion potential (E corr ) of passive metal immersed in seawater was investigated with electrochemical technology and epifluorescence microscopy. The in situ observation showed that the bacteria number increased on the metal surface according to an exponential law which was in the same way with the ennoblement of E corr . At the same time, the anodic polarization current of high‐Mo stainless steel decreased in the initial days. According to the mix‐potential theory and the characteristics of polarization curves of high‐Mo steel in natural seawater, the ennoblement of corrosion potential may be induced by the decrease of the passive current density.