Hydrogen effects on pitting corrosion and semiconducting properties of nitrogen-containing type 316L stainless steel

The effects of hydrogen pre-charging on pitting corrosion resistance and semiconducting nature of passive film formed on two different nitrogen-containing type 316L stainless steel (0.076 and 0.086 wt% N) have been studied. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) analysis of the alloys after passivation indicated weak nitrogen peak, but the presence of nitrogen and NH₃/NH₄⁺ was confirmed by the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The results of pitting corrosion in 0.5 M NaCl (pH ≈ 5.7) solution revealed that hydrogen increased the passive current density and significantly reduced the pitting resistance. In 0.3 M H₃BO₃ + 0.075 M Na₂B₄O₇·10H₂O (pH ≈ 8.45) solution, increase in passive current density without affecting the breakdown or transpassive potential was observed for both the alloys. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurement after hydrogen pre-charging showed decrease in semi-circle radius of Nyquist plot, and the polarization resistance, R_P associated with the resistance of the passive film. The decrease was significant with increasing hydrogen-charging current density (−50 to −100 mA/cm²). The results of the capacitance measurement and Mott–Schottky plots revealed that passive films exhibit n-type and p-type semiconductivity films for both the uncharged and hydrogen charged specimens of the investigated alloys. Doping densities obtained from Mott–Schottky plots increased with hydrogen pre-charging. The overall results indicated that hydrogen pre-charging deteriorated the passive film stability and lowered pitting corrosion resistance. The effects of hydrogen pre-charging on pitting corrosion, passive film and semiconducting properties are discussed in light of the above results.