Effects of stabilizing elements on mechanical and electrochemical characteristics of stainless steel in marine environment

Stainless steels stabilized with Ti or Nb are largely used in offshore and shipbuilding industries due to its excellent corrosion resistance. In this study, carbide stabilizers, Ti and Nb, were added to stainless steel 304 specimens with different concentrations(Ti: 0.26%, 0.71%, Nb: 0.29%, 0.46%, 0.71%), and their mechanical and electrochemical characteristics were evaluated. Micro-Vickers hardness testing was employed to characterize the mechanical characteristics with alloying elements. Electrochemical evaluation techniques including Tafel analysis, cyclic polarization experiment, galvanostatic experiment were utilized to compare the corrosion characteristics of the specimens. The result of hardness tests revealed that Nb containing specimens showed increasing hardness with increasing alloying contents while adding Ti had little effect on increase in hardness. In the case of electrochemical measurements, the electrochemical characteristics of the specimens were enhanced with increasing Nb contents while they were deteriorated with increasing Ti contents. As a result, different stabilizers and their contents may produce significant differences in electrochemical characteristics, and there such effect must be taken account of in development of stainless steels for marine environment.