Abstract
The pitting corrosion behaviour of carbon steels with different banded microstructures has been investigated in chloride solutions using the in situ scanning reference electrode technique (SRET). The specimen surfaces were inspected with an optical microscope after SRET measurements and the variation of potential over the test surface was compared with the corrosion morphology. The regions of potential drop on the SRET maps are consistent with the sites and sizes of the observed pitting. Pitting susceptibility was found to vary with microstructure of the steel. The surface morphology showed that pits were predominantly initiated on the ferrite bands for specimens with martensite–ferrite microstructures, but preferentially on martensite for specimens with martensite–pearlite structures.
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