Comparison of Crevice Corrosion of Fe-Based Amorphous Metal and Crystalline Ni-Cr-Mo Alloy

The crevice corrosion behaviors of an Fe-based bulk metallic glass alloy (SAM1651) and a Ni-Cr-Mo crystalline alloy (C-22) were studied in 4M NaCl solution at 100 °C with cyclic potentiodynamic polarization and constant-potential tests. The corrosion damage morphologies, corrosion products, and the compositions of corroded surfaces of these two alloys were studied with optical three-dimensional reconstruction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). It was found that the Fe-based bulk metallic glass (amorphous alloy) SAM1651 had a more positive breakdown potential and repassivation potential than crystalline alloy C-22 in cyclic potentiodynamic polarization tests and required a more positive oxidizing potential to initiate crevice corrosion in constant-potential tests. Once crevice corrosion initiated, the corrosion propagation of C-22 was more localized near the crevice border compared to SAM1651, and SAM1651 repassivated more readily than C-22. The EDS results indicated that the corrosion products of both alloys contained a high amount of O and were enriched in Mo and Cr. The AES results indicated that a Cr-rich oxide passive film was formed on the surfaces of both alloys, and both alloys corroded congruently in the crevice corrosion damage areas. This article is based on a presentation given in the symposium entitled “Iron-Based Amorphous Metals: An Important Family of High-Performance Corrosion-Resistant Materials,” which occurred during the MSandT meeting, September 16–20, 2007, in Detroit, Michigan, under the auspices of The American Ceramics Society (ACerS), The Association for Iron and Steel Technology (AIST), ASM International, and TMS.

---

J.H. Payer (Professor)Email: