Corrosion of two kinds of cast steels containing chromium in hot concentrated alkaline

A typical hot concentrated alkaline corrosion environment exists in alumina metallurgical industry, so that steel materials with outstanding alkaline corrosion resistance are strongly demanded for its processing equipment. In this paper, the corrosion resistance of two kinds of martensitic cast steels containing chromium in static 303g/L NaOH alkaline solution at 85℃ was studied through polarization and potential-time curves, corrosion weight loss and corrosion morphology analysis. Experimental results showed that protection effect by passive film of cast steel containing Cr was temporary. The low carbon steel without Cr content also exhibited chemical passivity in the same solution. The corrosion mode of the tested Cr-containing cast steel was composed of active dissolving corrosion and caustic embrittlement cracking. Dissolving corrosion was the primary mechanism for the induced weight loss, while severe caustic embrittlement cracking was secondary. With the increase of chromium content in the cast steel, the tendency of the caustic embrittlement cracking decreased, while the active dissolving corrosion increased.