Electrochemical Analysis on Corrosion of Stainless Steels in Molten Nitrate Salt

Electrochemical analysis of corrosion in molten nitrate salt of stainless steel grade SS 430, SS 2205, SS 2507 and SS 304 is directly performed to evaluate corrosion resistance. Stainless steels are exposed to molten nitrate salt at 600 °C for two hours. This is done in a furnace equipped with a working electrode terminal, reference and counter electrodes. According to this, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and potentiodynamic polarization techniques are applied in situ to measure corrosion rates and corrosion resistance. Microstructures of stainless steel reveal the ferrite phase for SS 430, the austenite phase for SS 304 and the duplex phase for SS 2205 and SS 2507. In this study, the existence of an austenite phase promotes corrosion resistance in molten nitrate salt.