Corrosion behaviour of a highly alloyed austenitic alloy UB6 in contaminated phosphoric acid

Abstract

The influence of temperature (20–80°C) on the electrochemical behaviour of passive films anodically formed on UB6 stainless steel in phosphoric acid solution (5.5 M H3PO4) has been examined by using potentiodynamic curves, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and Mott-Schottky analysis. UB6 stainless steel in contaminated phosphoric acid is characterised by high interfacial impedance, thereby, illustrating its high corrosion resistance. The obtained results show that the films behave as n-type and p-type semiconductors in the potential range above and below the flat band potential, respectively. This behaviour is assumed to be the consequence of the semiconducting properties of the iron oxide and chromium oxide regions which compose the passive film.