Exceptional cavitation erosion-corrosion behavior of dual-phase bimodal structure in austenitic stainless steel

• Published in: Tribology international Vol. 134; pp. 77 - 86
• Main Authors: Selvam, Karthikeyan, Saini, Jaskaran, Perumal, Gopinath, Ayyagari, Aditya, Salloom, Riyadh, Mondal, Riya, Mukherjee, Sundeep, Grewal, Harpreet Singh, Arora, Harpreet Singh
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2019; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Austenitic stainless steels; Bimodal grain structure; Cavitation; Cavitation erosion; Cavitation erosion-corrosion; Cavitation resistance; Corrosion; Corrosion rate; Dual phase steels; Duplex stainless steels; Electrochemistry; Erosion resistance; Erosion-corrosion; Grain structure; Hardening rate; Maintenance management; Stainless steel; Steel structures; Structural steels; Surface modification; X-ray photoelectron; Electrochemistry; Cavitation erosion-corrosion; Surface modification; Bimodal grain structure; X-ray photoelectron
• ISSN: 0301-679X; 1879-2464
• DOI: 10.1016/j.triboint.2019.01.018

In this study, we demonstrate a novel pathway to engineer the properties of metallic alloys for limiting their cavitation erosion-corrosion. A facile single-step processing technique was used to develop bimodal grain structure in stainless steel. The bimodal steel was tested in cavitation erosion and erosion-corrosion conditions. In both the cases, bimodal steel showed exceptionally high degradation resistance, nearly 7 times higher compared to as-received steel. The remarkable cavitation erosion resistance demonstrated by bimodal steel is attributed to its high yield strength along with high work-hardening rate. In addition, the bimodal steel showed significantly low corrosion rate of 0.001 mm/year in 3.5 wt % NaCl solution compared to 0.088 mm/year for as-received stainless steel. •Bimodal grain structure was developed in austenitic stainless-steel.•Bimodal structure showed exceptional cavitation erosion-corrosion resistance.•Bimodal structure showed substantially lower corrosion rate in 3.5% NaCl solution.•Unique dual-phase bimodal grain structure contributed to remarkable performance.•Performance of bimodal steel was found to be similar to high entropy alloys.