Effect of alloying element content on anaerobic microbiologically influenced corrosion sensitivity of stainless steels in enriched artificial seawater

Huihai Wan; Tiansui Zhang; Junlei Wang; Zhuang Rao; Yizhe Zhang; Guangfang Li; Tingyue Gu; Hongfang Liu

doi:10.1016/j.bioelechem.2023.108367

Effect of alloying element content on anaerobic microbiologically influenced corrosion sensitivity of stainless steels in enriched artificial seawater

Bioelectrochemistry. 2023 Apr:150:108367. doi: 10.1016/j.bioelechem.2023.108367. Epub 2023 Jan 5.

Authors

Huihai Wan¹, Tiansui Zhang¹, Junlei Wang¹, Zhuang Rao¹, Yizhe Zhang¹, Guangfang Li², Tingyue Gu³, Hongfang Liu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure, Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, PR China.
² Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure, Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, PR China. Electronic address: guangFL@hust.edu.cn.
³ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Institute for Corrosion and Multiphase Technology, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701, USA. Electronic address: gu@ohio.edu.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure, Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, PR China. Electronic address: liuhf@hust.edu.cn.

PMID: 36621048
DOI: 10.1016/j.bioelechem.2023.108367

Abstract

Stainless steels (SS) are not immune to microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) especially in the presence of sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB). It is necessary to study the influence of alloying elements on the MIC. SRB MIC behaviors of four stainless steels (2205 SS, 316L SS, 304 SS, and 410 SS), with different alloying element compositions were compared after 14 days of incubation at 37°C in enriched artificial seawater inoculated with Desulfovibrio sp. The sessile cell sequence was 410 SS > 316L SS > 304 SS > 2205 SS, inversely proportional to Cr content. The uniform corrosion rate (based on weight loss) sequence was 410 SS > 304 SS > 316L SS > 2205 SS, which matches the pitting resistance equivalent number (PREN) sequence inversely. 410 SS with the lowest Cr and Mo contents suffered the most severe pitting, with pit depth of 35 μm and weight loss of 0.75 mg/cm² (0.91 mm/a pitting rate and 25 μm/a uniform corrosion rate). The other three stainless steels with higher Cr and Mo contents suffered only metastable pits. The semiconductor characteristics and the re-passivation abilities of the passive films were found to be affected by Cr and Mo contents.

Keywords: Alloying element; Microbiologically influenced corrosion; Passive film; Stainless steel; Sulfate reducing bacteria.

MeSH terms

Alloys
Anaerobiosis
Corrosion
Desulfovibrio*
Seawater
Stainless Steel
Steel*

Substances

Steel
Stainless Steel
Alloys