Short Communication: Corrosion, Microstructure and Mechanical Performance of Ultra Low C/Cr Stabilized Steel

An experimental controlled rolled ultra-low carbon steel sheet with 0.035 wt.% Cr addition (ULC- Cr/stabilized steel) was evaluated in different concentration NaCl solution (neutral pH) to assess their corrosion performance. The mechanical properties were obtained by conventional monotonic axial test. Techniques were used to evaluate the corrosion behaviour such as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and Potentiodynamic polarization (PP). Characterization of microstructure was carried out in the steel by means of TEM and optical microscopy. The results show that ULC- Cr/stabilized steel in the as-annealed condition has the higher corrosion resistance along better microstructural and mechanical properties. The corrosion and mechanical properties observed are attributed to the presence of a high density of precipitates, and phases which induces chemical stability. In the same way, the rolling and annealed process induces a structural stability of the no passive-permeable film preventing the growth of corrosive pittings as the diffusion of metal ions, which reduces the corrosion rate.