Electrochemical Behavior of Full Annealed Austenitic Stainless Steel

Abstract

Austenitic Stainless Steel has been being used in many fields. Austenitic Stainless Steel which has composition 19 wt%Cr–7wt%Ni has been subjected to heat treatment. One of the many heat treatments applicable to improve the corrosion resistance is the full annealing method. This material subject to full annealing method with rapid quenching in various annealing temperatures; 1010°C, 1065°C, and 1120°C. Potentiodynamic curves before and after heat treatment were acquired to elaborate the electrochemical behavior of this austenitic stainless steel. Besides the corrosion rate, the structure of the austenitic stainless steel has been characterized using x-ray diffraction (XRD) to study the structure. The results showed the full annealing modified the structure and the electrochemical behavior of the austenitic stainless steel.