• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.230-241
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• 2022

Austenitic stainless steel has been widely used because of its good corrosion resistance and mechanical properties. However, intergranular corrosion can occur if the alloy is welded or aged. The objective of this study was to determine intergranular corrosion behaviors of austenitic medium carbon (0.05 wt%) and low carbon (0.02 wt%) stainless steel aged at several conditions. Alloys were evaluated according to ASTM A262 Practice A, ISO 12732 DL-EPR (double loop-electrochemical potentiokinetic reactivation) test, and ASTM A262 Practice C. The degree of sensitization and intergranular corrosion rate were obtained. The relationship between the degree of sensitization and the intergranular corrosion rate showed a very large fluctuation. Such behavior might be related to whether two-dimension tests or three-dimension tests were performed. On the other hand, regardless of carbon content of alloys, when the intergranular corrosion rate increased, the degree of sensitization also increased. However, the DL-EPR test showed a higher sensitivity than the Huey test for differentiating the intergranular corrosion property at a low intergranular corrosion rate, while the Huey test had a higher sensitivity than the DL-EPR test for distinguishing the intergranular corrosion property at a high intergranular corrosion rate.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.183-192
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• 2018

Stainless steel can be classified into three categories depending on the microstructure as austenitic stainless steel, ferritic stainless steel and martensitic stainless steel. Generally, stainless steel is extremely resistant to corrosion as the name implies. However, under specific environments, susceptibility to localized corrosion such as pitting, intergranular corrosion and stress corrosion cracking increases. This paper reviewed the state of arts on intergranular corrosion mechanisms, countermeasures on intergranular corrosion and intergranular corrosion test methods. Intergranular corrosion is mostly related with chromium depletion at the grain boundary and sometimes with segregation of electroactive elements in solution annealed stainless steel. Countermeasures on intergranular corrosion include avoiding chromium depletion by heat treatment and the addition of alloying elements. Sensitization evaluation of stainless steel was performed either through acid immersion test or electrochemical test. The methods were standardized in (Japanese Industrial Standards). Even though are useful in evaluating the degree of sensitization for industrial purpose but do not provide detailed information about sensitization mechanism, cause and chromium profile.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.219-231
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• 1997

Inconel alloys used as nuclear power plant components have experienced intergranular stress corrosion cracking problems inspite of their good corrosion characteristics. In order to investigate the effects of heat treatments on carbide precipitation and intergranular stress corrosion cracking(IGSCC) in Inconel alloys, DSC(Differential Scanning Calorimeter), TEM, EDXS and static potential corrosion tests were carried out. Thermal treatment at $750^{\circ}C$ for 15hours in Inconel alloys increased the density of intergranular carbide. The carbides are mainly $Cr_7C_3$ in Inconel 600, and $Cr_{23}C_6$ in Inconel 690. The Cr depletion around grain boundary is not crucial factor on IGSCC. The carbides in grain boundary play an important role as acting dislocation source, and as decreasing stress around growing crack.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.82-87
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• 2003

Stress corrosion cracking of Alloy 600 and Alloy 690 has been studied with a C-ring specimen in 1%, 10% and 40% NaOH at $315^{\circ}C$. SCC test was performed at 200 mV above corrosion potential. Initial stress on the apex of C-ring specimen was varied from 300 MPa to 565 MPa. Materials were heat treated at various temperatures. SCC resistance of Ni-$_\chi$Cr-10Fe alloy increased as the Cr content of the alloy increased if the density of an intergranular carbide were comparable. SCC resistance of Alloy 600 increased in caustic solution as the product of coverage of an intergranular carbide in grain boundary, intergranular carbide thickness and Cr concentration at grain boundary increased. Low temperature mill annealed Alloy 600 with small grain size and without intergranular carbide was most susceptible to SCC. TT Alloy 690 was most resistant to SCC due to the high value of the product of coverage of an intergranular carbide in grain boundary, intergranular carbide thickness and Cr concentration at grain boundary. Dependency of SCC rate on stress and NaOH concentration was obtained.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.226-236
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• 2016

316L stainless steels have been widely used in many engineering fields, because of their high corrosion resistance and good mechanical properties. However, welding or aging treatment may induce intergranular corrosion and stress corrosion cracking etc. Since these types of corrosion are closely related to the formation of chromium carbide in grain boundaries, the alloys are controlled by methods such as the lowering of carbon content, solution heat treatment. This work focused on the intergranular corrosion mechanism of slightly-sensitized and Ultrasonic Nano-crystal Surface Modification (UNSM)-treated 316L stainless steel. Samples were sensitized for 1, 5, and 48 hours at $650^{\circ}C$ in $N_2$ gas atmosphere. Subsequently UNSM treatments were carried out on the surface of the samples. The results were discussed on the basis of the sensitization by chromium carbide and carbon segregation, the residual stress and grain refinement. Even though chromium carbide was not precipitated, the intergranular corrosion rate of 316L stainless steel was drastically increased with aging time, and it was confirmed that the increased intergranular corrosion rate of slightly-sensitized (not carbide formed) 316L stainless steel was due to the carbon segregation along the grain boundaries. However, UNSM treatment improved the intergranular corrosion resistance of aged stainless steels, and its improvement was due to the reduction of carbon segregation and the grain refinement of the outer surface, including the introduction of compressive residual stress.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.330-340
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• 2024

Al-Mg-Si alloys are light weight and have excellent corrosion resistance, and are attracting attention as a liner material for high-pressure hydrogen containers in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Because it has excellent plastic hardening properties, it is also applied to car body panel materials, but it is moderate in strength, so research to improve the strength by adding Si-rich or Cu is in progress. So far, the authors have conducted research on the intergranular fracture of alloys with excessive Si addition from the macroscopic mechanical point of view, such as specimen shape. To evaluate their impact tensile properties, the split-Hopkinson bar impact test was performed using thin plate specimens of coarse and fine grain alloys of Al-Mg-X (X = Cr,Si) alloy. The effect of the shape of the specimen on the characteristics was studied through finite element method (FEM) analysis. As a result, it was found that the intergranular fracture of the alloy with excessive Si depended on the specimen width (W)/grain size (d), which can be expressed by the specimen size and grain size. As W/d decreases, the intergranular fracture transforms into a transgranular fracture. As the strain rate increases, the fracture elongation decreases, and the fracture surface of the intergranular fracture becomes more brittle. It was confirmed that intergranular fracture occurred in the high strain rate region even in materials with small grain sizes.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.250-254
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• 2002

Intergranular corrosion of austenitic stainless steels is a conventional and momentous problem during welding and high temperature use. One of the major reasons for such intergranular corrosion is so-called sensitization, i.e., chromium depletion due to chromium carbide precipitation at grain boundaries. Conventional methods for preventing sensitization of austenitic stainless steels include reduction of carbon content in the material, stabilization of carbon atoms as non-chromium carbides by the addition of titanium, niobium or zirconium, local solution-heat-treatment by laser beam, etc. These methods, however, are not without drawbacks. Recent grain boundary structure studies have demonstrated that grain boundary phenomena strongly depend on the crystallographic nature and atomic structure of the grain boundary, and that grain boundaries with coincidence site lattices are immune to intergranular corrosion. The concept of "grain boundary design and control", which involves a desirable grain boundary character distribution, has been developed as grain boundary engineering. The feasibility of grain boundary engineering has been demonstrated mainly by thermomechanical treatments. In the present study, a thermomechanical treatment was tried to improve the resistance to the sensitization by grain boundary engineering. A type 304 austenitic stainless steel was pre-strained and heat-treated, and then sensitized, varying the parameters (pre-strain, temperature, time, etc.) during the thermomechanical treatment. The grain boundary character distribution was examined by orientation imaging microscopy. The intergranular corrosion resistance was evaluated by electrochemical potentiokinetic reactivation and ferric sulfate-sulfuric acid tests. The sensitivity to intergranular corrosion was reduced by the thermomechanical treatment and indicated a minimum at a small roll-reduction. The frequency of coincidence-site-lattice boundaries indicated a maximum at a small strain. The ferric sulfate-sulfuric acid test showed much smaller corrosion rate in the thermomechanically-treated specimen than in the base material. An excellent intergranular corrosion resistance was obtained by a small strain annealing at a relatively low temperature for long time. The optimum parameters created a uniform distribution of a high frequency of coincidence site lattice boundaries in the specimen where corrosive random boundaries were isolated. The results suggest that the thermomechanical treatment can introduce low energy segments in the grain boundary network by annealing twins and can arrest the percolation of intergranular corrosion from the surface.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.84-88
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• 2004

The polycrystalline superconductor $SmBa_2$$Cu_3$$O_{x}$ is fabricated, and intergranular magnetic properties are investigated using the critical state model, from which some useful parameters such as the critical current density and the intergranular volume fraction are obtained. The curve fitting for M-H hysteresis loop shows that the intergranular critical current density of $SmBa_2$$Cu_3$$O_{x}$ / decreases in the form of ($1-T/T_{c}$ )$^{1.5}$ . The intergranular volume fraction is influenced by granular morphology. From SEM image, the grains of $SmBa_2$$Cu_3$$O_{x}$ are found to be randomly shaped. This mean:; that the intergranular volume fraction of $SmBa_2$$Cu_3$$O_{x}$ / should be smaller than those of superconductors, of which grains are plate-shaped such as Tl-based superconductor.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.293-299
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• 2013

A specimen of weld metal was prepared by GTA welding with weld wire of super duplex stainless steel. Aging treatment was conducted for the sample at the temperature range of 700 to $900^{\circ}C$ for 5 to 300 minutes. The effect of volume fraction of ${\sigma}$-phase to intergranular corrosion of weld metal has been investigated and the results were derived as follows. The volume fraction of ${\sigma}$ phase tends to increase with an increase of aging temperature and time and intergranular corrosion of weld metal was increased by an increase of ${\sigma}$ phase. Degree of sensitization representing intergranular corrosion was found to tend to increase with an increase of aging time at 700 to $800^{\circ}C$, while it decreased by an increase of aging time at $900^{\circ}C$.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.105-111
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• 2021

In oxidizing nitric acid solutions, stainless steel undergoes intergranular corrosion accompanied by grain dropping and changes in the corrosion rate. For the safe operation of reprocessing plants, this mechanism should be understood. In this study, we constructed a three-dimensional computational model using a cellular automata method to simulate the intergranular corrosion propagation of stainless steel. The computational model was constructed of three types of cells: grain (bulk), grain boundary (GB), and solution cells. Model simulations verified the relationship between surface roughness during corrosion and dispersion of the dissolution rate of the GB. The relationship was investigated by simulation applying a constant dissolution rate and a distributed dissolution rate of the GB cells. The distribution of the dissolution rate of the GB cells was derived from the intergranular corrosion depth obtained by corrosion tests. The constant dissolution rate of the GB was derived from the average dissolution rate. Surface roughness calculated by the distributed dissolution rates of the GBs of the model was greater than the constant dissolution rates of the GBs. The cross-sectional images obtained were comparable to the corrosion test results. These results indicate that the surface roughness during corrosion is associated with the distribution of the corrosion rate.