• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.56-65
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• 2022

The electrochemical corrosion properties of austenitic AISI 304 steel subjected to a long-term-aging heat treatment were investigated. AISI 304 steel was aged at 700 ℃ for up to 10,000 h. The variation in the microstructure of the aged specimens was observed by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Electrochemical polarization experiments were performed to obtain the corrosion current density (Icorr) and corrosion potential (Ecorr). Analyses indicated that the metastable intermetallic carbide M₂₃C₆ formed near the γ/γ grain boundary and coarsened with increasing aging time; meanwhile, the δ-ferrite decomposed into the σ phase and into M₂₃C₆ carbide. As the aging time increased, the current density increased, but the corrosion potential of the austenitic specimen remained high (at least 0.04 ㎛/cm²). Because intergranular carbide was absent, the austenitic annealed specimen exhibited the highest pitting resistance. Consequently, the corrosion resistance of austenitic AISI 304 steel decreased as the aging heat treatment time increased.