Potassium ferricyanide and potassium ferrocyanide were used to observe and monitor the pitting corrosion of 304 stainless steel (SS) at anodic polarization in situ. The results show that there are Fe3+ ions around the corrosion pit when pitting occurs on 304 SS in NaCl aqueous solution. The effect of Fe3+ surrounded pits on the pitting corrosion was also studied by testing the electrochemical behavior of 304 SS in different Fe3+/Fe2+ solutions. The presence of Fe3+ leads to the positive shift of corrosion potential and the increase of corrosion rate of 304 SS. There are two possible reasons for this phenomenon. On the one hand, Fe3+ hydrolysis results in the decrease of pH value of solution. At the same iron ion concentration, the higher the Fe3+ ion concentration, the lower the solution pH value. On the other hand, Fe3+ may reduce on the electrode surface. The decrease of solution pH and the reduction of Fe3+ resulted in the acceleration of the corrosion rate.
Keywords: Fe3+ reduction; chromogenic method; pitting corrosion; stainless steel.