Enhanced Wear and Corrosion Performance of Stainless Steel 316L with Addition of Different Weight Percentages of GNP

The present study reports on the significant improvement in the wear and corrosion resistance of SS316L by adding graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) of varying wt.% (0.25, 0.5, and 0.75), composites which were prepared by the pressureless sintering technique.The GNP addition can significantly improve the wear and corrosion resistance of SS316L.The wear and corrosion rates for the 0.5 wt.% GNP composite were reduced by 43% and 98%, respectively.The corrosion morphology showed that pitting corrosion was reduced by reinforcing 316L with 0.5 wt.% GNP.Moreover, the intergranular sites were more vulnerable to the corrosion medium when GNP was used at 0.75 wt.%.The worn surface morphology revealed that the tribofilm reduces the coefficient of friction and wear rate due to the lubricating nature of GNP.The presence of GNP was confirmed by Raman spectroscopy in terms of the tribofilm.