Monitoring localized corrosion of Inconel 82 weld overlay on 304L SS weld by electrochemical noise

Abstract

The manuscript presents the results from the electrochemical noise (EN) monitoring of Inconel 82 weld overlay on Type 304L stainless steel (SS) weld in 0.01M FeCl 3. The microstructure of the weld overlay obtained from optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed an austenite structure, containing equiaxed dendrites and secondary phases at the interdendritic region. Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) attached to SEM revealed the secondary phases to be Nb rich Laves phase. The electrochemical potential noise was monitored using a three identical electrode configuration. The acquired signals were detrended, and wavelet analysis was employed to encode useful information from the noise transients. Visual examination of the potential noise-time record contained distinct high amplitude transients typical of localized corrosion attack. The energy distribution plots (EDP) of the potential noise derived from wavelet analysis depicted maximum relative energy on D6-D8 crystals, which represent large time scale events such as those occurring from localized attacks. Also, repassivation events too could be divulged from the potential EDP. The micrographs of the post electrochemical noise experimented specimens revealed the occurrence of localized attacks along the interdendritic region and none inside the dendritic cores. The presence of secondary phases along the interdendritic regions was found to be detrimental in chloride medium, imparting inferior localized corrosion resistance to the weld overlay.