Testing of intergranular and pitting corrosion in sensitized welded joints of austenitic stainless steel

Pitting corrosion resistance and intergranular corrosion of the austenitic stainless steel X5Cr Ni18-10 were tested on the base metal, heat affected zone and weld metal. Testing of pitting corrosion was performed by the potentiodynamic polarization method, while testing of intergranular corrosion was performed by the method of electrochemical potentiokinetic reactivation with double loop. The base metal was completely resistant to intergranular corrosion, while the heat affected zone showed a slight susceptibility to intergranular corrosion. Indicators of pitting corrosion resistance for the weld metal and the base metal were very similar, but their values are significantly higher than the values for the heat affected zone. This was caused by reduction of the chromium concentration in the grain boundary areas in the heat affected zone, even though the carbon content in the examined stainless steel is low (0.04 wt. % C).