Intergranular corrosion of Ti-stabilized 11 wt% Cr ferritic stainless steel for automotive exhaust systems

Intergranular corrosion (IGC) of type 409L ferritic stainless steel (FSS) was investigated. A free-exposure corrosion and a double loop electrochemical potentiokinetic reactivation (DL-EPR) tests were conducted to examine IGC of the FSS. IGC occurred in the specimens aged at the temperature range of 400–600 °C that has the sensitization nose located around 600 °C. The critical I_r/I_a value was determined to be about 0.03 above which IGC occurred. Based on the analysis of the intergranular precipitates by an energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and a transmission electron microscopy (TEM), IGC was induced by the Cr depletion zone formation due to Cr segregation around intergranular TiC.