Electrochemical investigation on the corrosion of 18%Ni M250 grade maraging steel under welded condition in sulfuric acid medium

The corrosion behavior of welded maraging steel in sulfuric acid solutions has been studied over a range of acid concentrations and solution temperatures by electrochemical techniques such as Tafel extrapolation and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The studies have revealed that the corrosion rate of welded maraging steel increases with the increase in temperature and increase in concentration of sulfuric acid in the medium. The thermodynamic parameters such as activation energy, enthalpy of activation and entropy of activation for the corrosion process are calculated. The results obtained through the two techniques are in good agreement. The surface morphology and surface composition of the corroded samples have been examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, respectively. © 2013 Allerton Press, Inc.