Corrosion behavior of dissimilar welded joint between Inconel 617 alloy and A387-Gr.11 low-alloy steel

In this study, Inconel 617 alloy was welded to A387-Gr.11 low-alloy steel using ER309L filler metal via gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW). First, the corrosion behavior of Inconel 617, A387-Gr, and the weld metal was evaluated by the Tafel polarization test and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in acidic (H2SO4), neutral (NaCl), and combined (H2SO4 + NaCl) solution at ambient temperature. The results of polarization and EIS measurements in all corrosive solutions indicate that the corrosion resistance decreases from 617 alloy to weld metal and from weld metal to low-alloy steel, respectively. The Comparison of the polarization curves of the base metals and the weld metal showed susceptibility to galvanic corrosion between Inconel 617 / weld metal in 1M NaCl solution. The behavior of galvanic corrosion of this pair was evaluated using the mixed potential theory and the electrochemical noise measurement. The results showed that in a galvanic couple of alloy 617 / weld metal, the weld metal acts as anode and corrodes in such a way that its corrosion rate increases from 0.22 μA/cm2 before joining to 1 μA /cm2 after joining.