M. Azadi, M. Ferdosi, H. Shahin,
Volume 17, Issue 1 (3-2020)
Abstract
In this paper, the effects of solutioning and various aging heat treatment processes on the microstructure, the hardness and electrochemical properties of a duplex stainless steel (DSS) were studied. The evaluation of the microstructure and phase compositions were carried out by the optical microscopy (OM) and the X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. Electrochemical behaviors of specimens were evaluated by both potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) tests at temperatures of 25 and 60 ºC. The obtained results showed that the solutioning heat treatment increased corrosion rates with respect to the blank specimen. The aging process at 490 ºC for 20 hrs increased the volume percent of the carbide phase to the highest value (25.1%) which resulted in an increase of the hardness value to 170 VHN. The specimen which was aged at 540 ºC for 10 hrs with the Cr7C3 size of 22.8 µm, exhibited the higher corrosion resistance at both temperatures of 25 and 60 ºC with respect to other aged specimens. In addition, the temperature of 60 ºC promoted the anodic reactions in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution which decreased impedance modulus values significantly. Consequently, the carbide size was more effective parameter than the carbide content in predicting electrochemical behaviors of such alloys.
Yemurai Vengesa, Arash Fattah-Alhosseini, Hassan Elmkhah, Omid Imantalab,
Volume 18, Issue 4 (12-2021)
Abstract
The main purpose of this investigation is to assess the effect of post-deposition annealing treatment on the electrochemical behavior of TiN coating developed on AISI 304 stainless steel substrate using cathodic arc evaporation physical vapor deposition (CAE-PVD). Post-annealing treatment at 400 ºC was performed on the coated substrate for 1 h. The studied samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), potentiodynamic polarization (PDP), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) tests. The preferred orientation of TiN (111) was identified by XRD patterns and the crystallinity of the coating increased after annealing treatment. SEM observations indicated that TiN coatings free of cracks were successfully developed on the substrate. The electrochemical measurements elucidated that the annealed coating had better corrosion resistance compared to that of the as-deposited coating with a lower current corrosion density. This investigation implied that improved corrosion performance of the TiN coating can achieved by performing post-deposition annealing treatment.
