The passivity of Type 316L stainless steel in borate buffer solution

The passivity of Type 316 SS in borate buffer solution (pH 8.35), in the steady-state, has been explored using a variety of electrochemical techniques, including potentiostatic polarization, Mott Schottky analysis, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The study shows that the passive film is an n-type semiconductor with a donor density that is essentially independent of voltage across the passive state. The passive current density is also found to be voltage-independent, but the thickness of the barrier layer depends linearly on the applied voltage. These observations are consistent with the predictions of the Point Defect Model, noting that the point defects within the barrier layer of the passive film are metal interstitials or oxygen vacancies, or both. No evidence for p-type behavior was obtained, indicating that cation vacancies do not have a significant population density in the film compared with the two donors (cation interstitials and oxygen vacancies).