Corrosion Behavior of Materials Al5083 Alloy, 316L Stainless Steel and A681 Carbon Steel in Seawater

Abstract

In this paper the corrosion behavior of different materials has been evaluated based on exposure in seawater. The laboratory immersion test technique has been applied to evaluate the effect of seawater on the corrosion behavior of different materials. In three sets of experiments, carbon steels (A681 Type O7), austenitic stainless steels (316L) and aluminium alloys (Al5083) were utilized. The specimens were fixed fully submerged in seawater. The corrosion process was evaluated using weight loss method, open-circuit potential measurements (OCP) and polarization techniques. To determine gravimetric index and the rate of penetration, samples were immersed in corrosive environment for 89 days and weighed periodically. The electrochemical experiments were conducted with a Potentiostat/Galvanostat (PGP 201) analyzer. It was connected to a PC. The Voltamaster software was used for electrochemical data analysis. A three-electrode cell composed of a specimen as a working electrode, Pt as counter electrode, and saturated calomel electrode (SCE) (Hg (l)/ Hg2Cl2 (s)) as a reference electrode were used for the tests. The weight loss tests revealed the lowest corrosion rate values for stainless steel and aluminium alloys, indicating a beneficial use for these materials in marine environments. The potentiodynamic method shows that the lowest corrosion rate in seawater (2.8 μm /year) was obtained for the Al5083 alloy, and the highest value of the corrosion rate (41.67 μm/year) for A681 carbon steel.

Keywords

• corrosion
• weight loss
• seawater
• corrosion rate