A statistical study on the effect of annealing temperature on pitting corrosion resistance of 2205 duplex stainless steel

• Effect of solution annealing temperature on 2205 DSS pitting is investigated.
• Solution annealing at 1250 °C deteriorates pitting resistance of alloy.
• Specimen with lower pitting potential showed Cr and N rich precipitates.
• Cr and N rich precipitates are located at ferrite phase.

In present work, pitting potential and metastable pitting occurrence of the 2205 duplex stainless steel were studied by means of statistical approaches at different annealing temperatures ranging from 1050 °C to 1250 °C. Obtained results showed that pitting resistance is considerably reduced by annealing alloy at 1250 °C. The microstructure investigation revealed the presence of Cr and N rich precipitates such as chromium nitrides (Cr2N) in ferrite phase after rapid cooling from higher annealing temperature. Therefore, presence of these precipitates can be the main result of preferential pitting occurring in ferrite phase and reduction in pitting resistance of the alloy.