Control of Electrochemical Corrosion Properties by Influencing Mn Partitioning through Intercritically Annealing of Medium-Mn Steel

TL;DR

This study investigates how intercritical annealing influences Mn partitioning and electrochemical corrosion behavior in medium-Mn steels, revealing that controlling microstructure can reduce corrosion severity.

Contribution

It demonstrates that intercritical annealing can modulate Mn partitioning and micro-galvanic effects, improving corrosion resistance in medium-Mn steels.

Findings

Reverted austenite undergoes selective dissolution due to micro-galvanic coupling.

Reducing interface area and Mn gradient decreases corrosion severity.

Intercritical annealing controls Mn partitioning and corrosion behavior.

Abstract

Medium-Mn steels exhibit excellent mechanical properties and lower production costs compared to high-Mn steels, which makes them a potential material for future application in the automotive industry. Intercritical annealing (ICA) after cold rolling allows to control the stacking fault energy (SFE) of austenite, the fraction of ferrite and reverted austenite, and the element partitioning (especially Mn). Although Mn deteriorates the corrosion behavior of Fe-Mn-Al alloys, the influence of austenite fraction and element partitioning of Mn on the electrochemical corrosion behavior has not been investigated yet. Therefore, the electrochemical corrosion behavior in 0.1 M H2SO4 of X6MnAl12-3, which was intercritically annealed for 2 h at 550 {\deg}C, 600 {\deg}C and 700 {\deg}C, was investigated by potentiodynamic polarization (PDP), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and mass spectroscopy with inductively coupled plasma (ICP-MS). Additionally, specimens after 1 h and 24 h of immersion were examined via SEM to visualize the corrosion damage. The ICA specimens showed a selective dissolution of reverted austenite due to its micro-galvanic coupling with the adjacent ferrite. The severity of the micro-galvanic coupling can be reduced by decreasing the interface area as well as the chemical gradient of mainly Mn between ferrite and reverted austenite by ICA.