The role of heat treatment on the erosion–corrosion behavior of AISI 52100 steel

The role of heat treatment on the erosion and corrosion behavior of 52100 steel was investigated in terms of: (i) electrochemical parameter measurements, (ii) identification of microstrain and strain energy induced by erosion, and (iii) the characterization of synergistic effect between erosion and corrosion. Heat-treatment both thermodynamically and kinetically affects the electrochemical reaction of eroded 52100 steel. on both the polarization resistance and corrosion rate measurements, it was found that a tempering treatment gives rise to the slowest corrosion kinetics. For both the annealed and tempered specimens, where the microstrain is created solely from mechanical deformation during erosion, there is a reasonable agreement between the calculated corrosion rate based on a mechano-electrochemical effect and the experimentally measured corrosion rate. However, for the quenched specimens in which a high level of microstrain is generated on quenching, there is a significant difference between the calculated (from mechano-electrochemical effect) and experimentally measured corrosion rates.