Effect of corrosion product layer on SCC susceptibility of copper containing type 304 stainless steel in 1 M H2SO4

The effect of surface corrosion product layer on the stress corrosion cracking (SCC) susceptibility of type 304 stainless steel with Cu was studied in 1 kmol/m3 (1 M) sulfuric acid at 353 K temperature. Studies based on the intermittent removal of surface corrosion product layer indicated that the surface film governs the SCC behavior of the alloy by accelerating both the crack initiation and propagation stages. The electrochemical impedance and polarization studies showed the surface layer to be promoting SCC initiation by lowering the uniform corrosion rate and the propagation by shifting the surface corrosion potential to a more noble direction. The elemental analysis of the corrosion product both by the energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy and by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis along with the thermodynamic calculations showed the layer to be constituted mainly of metallic copper (Cu) and the mono-hydrated iron sulfate which acts as cathode promoting SCC.