Influence of the grain orientation spread on the pitting corrosion resistance of duplex stainless steels using electron backscatter diffraction and critical pitting temperature test at the microscale

The corrosion behavior of UNS S32202 duplex stainless steel was studied by combining electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) measurements and critical pitting temperature tests at the microscale. The grain orientation spread (GOS) value was determined in grains of both phases from EBSD data. It was shown that austenitic sites containing extremely small ferrite grains having a GOS value greater than 1.3° were precursor sites for pitting in 4 M NaCl. The critical pitting temperature range was 45–90 °C. All the other sites of both phases remained passive up to 100 °C.

► Influence of grain orientation spread on the corrosion behavior of duplex stainless steels.
► Metallurgical criterion for pit initiation of duplex stainless steels.
► Crystallographic and electrochemical investigations at the microscale within both phases.