Effect of nitrogen on corrosion behaviour of a novel high nitrogen medium-entropy alloy CrCoNiN manufactured by pressurized metallurgy

A novel high nitrogen medium-entropy alloy CrCoNiN, which had higher strength and slightly lower ductility than CrCoNi alloy, was successfully manufactured by pressurized metallurgy. The microstructure and corrosion behaviour were investigated by microscopic, electrochemical and spectroscopic methods. The results indicated that nitrogen existed in the form of Cr2N precipitates and uniformly distributed N atoms, and nitrogen alloying significantly refined the grain size. Besides, nitrogen enriched on the outmost surface of passive film and metal/film interface as ammonia (NH3 and NH4+) and CrN, respectively. The significant improvement of corrosion resistance of CrCoNiN was attributed to the lower metastable pitting susceptibility together with thicker, less defective and more compact passive film.