Impact of pulsed currents and self induced magnetic fields on the development of metallic corrosion

As the US Navy continues to field ships with an increasing number of electrical generators and loads, it is unclear how the high magnetic fields being carried throughout the ship will impact the corrosion rate of structural and high current conducting alloys. Given the high pulsed current carried by high pulsed power systems, it is of increased interest to understand what impact their deployment will have on metallic corrosion. To investigate the impact of pulsed currents and the induced magnetic fields, a novel test stand has been designed and constructed to carry high pulsed currents, with amplitudes as high as a few kA, through material samples of interest. Two different metallic alloys have been tested, 1018 steel and 8620 steel respectively, and the results obtained will be presented here. Linear polarization resistance measurements and SEM imaging are used to characterize the samples´ corrosion rate, in an exposure of 3.5% NaCl for three hours. Baseline experiments, in which the sample are only exposed to the 3.5% NaCl, are also performed to identify the effect of high pulsed current carry.