Electrochemical Evaluation of Corrosion Property of Welding Zone of 304 Stainless Steel

Two kinds of welding methods are used for austenitic 304 stainless steel: laser welding and TIG welding. The difference in the corrosion characteristics of the welded zone between these two welding methods was investigated using electrochemical methods, such as corrosion potential measurements, polarization curves, cyclic voltammograms, etc. The Vickers hardnesses of all the welded zones (WM: Weld Metal, HAZ: Heat Affected Zone, BM: Base Metal) showed relatively higher values in the case of laser welding than for TIG welding. Furthermore, the corrosion current densities of all the welding zones showed lower values compared to TIG welding. In particular, the corrosion current density of the HAZ with TIG welding had the highest value of all the welding zones, which suggests that chromium depletion due to the formation of chromium carbide appears in the HAZ, which is in the range of the sensitization temperature. Thus, it can easily be corroded with a more active anode. Consequently, we found that the corrosion resistance of all of the welding zones for austenitic 304 stainless steel could apparently be improved by using Laser welding.