Electrochemical Behaviour of a Super Austenitic Stainless Steel in Amazonian Aqueous Environment

The electrochemical behaviour of 254 SMO super austenitic stainless steel in natural seawater collected from river mouth of French Guiana was investigated. A comparative study of samples immersed during 22 days in this environment was made including influences of scraped biofilm introduced in experiments and of stirring. Electrochemical measurements - open circuit potential (OCP), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear polarisation (LP) - are used to characterize the metal/medium interface included biofilms adhesion. The EDX analysis (EDAX system) shows that the chemical composition of adhered biofilm consists mostly of iron, oxygen, silicon and aluminium and seem preferentially bind on metal defects.