A laboratory study was made of the intergranular corrosion behavior of Types 316 and 316L stainless steel in 14 different acid environments. Included were nitric, nitric-hydrofluoric, acetic, citric, sulfuric, lactic, oxalic, formic and phosphoric acids. Results of this study showed that sensitized or welded Type 316L had excellent resistance to intergranular attack in all of the acid media except nitric. This was true despite the presence of a continuous network of sigma phase in the grain boundaries of the sensitized steel. In contrast, Type 316 having a continuous grain boundary network of chromium carbides underwent severe intergranular corrosion in 12 of the 14 environments studied.

3.2.2

Subject
Acids, Sigma phase, Steel structures, Water, Corrosion rate, Microstructure, Acid attack, Oxalic acid, Nitric acid, Heat, Stainless steel, Grain boundary, Intergranular corrosion
© 1959 by the National Association of Corrosion Engineers.
1959
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