Study on Passive Layer Characteristics of Chemically Passivated Duplex Stainless Steel

The aim of the present study was to investigate the corrosion resistance and characteristics of passive layer between naturally passivated and chemically passivated duplex stainless steel, UNS S31803 (EN 1.4462) using CPT, XPS, and EIS. The treatment of $HNO_3$(II) and $HNO_3$(III) in ASTM A 967 was applied. In case of chemically passivated specimen, CPT of $HNO_3$(II) and $HNO_3$(III) were higher than that of naturally passivated specimen. In addition, from XPS results, the protectiveness index (Cr/(Fe+Cr)) of chemically passivated specimens was also higher than that of naturally passivated specimen. The reason for this result is considered due to post-cleaning treatment in chemical passivation process, that is, immersion in $Na_2Cr_3O_7$ solution. The fact that $HNO_3$(II) passivation treatment showed the highest film resistance and 'n', which is exponent related with constant phase element (CPE) of passivation film, was in good agreement with results of CPS and XPS. The chemical passivation treatment was an effective method to improve corrosion resistance of duplex stainless steel.