Corrosion resistance of heated 316L stainless steel with CrC coating in PEMFC environment

In this paper, Heat treatment technology was used to improve the corrosion resistance of 316L stainless steel bipolar plate with chromium carbide coating. At same time, the corrosion characteristic was studied by electrochemical technique. The results showed the best heat treatment technique was the sample heated at 300 degrees C for 2 hours. At the moment, in simulated cathode and anode environments, the sample's corrosion current densities (@0.8V) were decreased from 20.28 mu A cm(-2) to 0.38 mu A cm(-2) and 4.62 mu A cm(-2) to 0.12 mu A cm(-2), respectively. Heat treatment process not only improved the film's density but also significantly increased electron transfer and electrochemical reaction resistance, which raised the anticorrosion characteristic of bipolar plate.