Introduction
The remarkable resistance of SS to corrosion phenomena in aggressive environment is due to the formation of a thin and compact oxide layer. Pitting or intergranular dissolution are the main phenomena observable when this passive film breaks. The precipitation of secondary phases is one of the most serious problems that leads to corrosion of SS.
The experimental work here presented deals with the electrochemical study of the corrosion behaviour of AISI304 SSs prepared:
- conventionally and
- following a recent method *,** consisting of a thermomechanical process which allows to improve the frequency of occurrence of special grain boundaries and, then, the corrosion prevention.
* Y. Zhou, K. T. Aust, U. Erb G. Palumbo, Scripta Materialia 45, 49, (2001)
**Thermomechanical Processing of Metallic Materials" U.S. Patent number inventors: G. Palumbo (Dec. 30, 1997)