Study of corrosion resistance of Lean Duplex Stainless Steel 2101 welded by the Gas Tungsten Arc Welding Double Fusion (GTAW-DF) process for use in the citrus juice industry

Abstract

This work aims to investigate the influence of optimized welding parameters on the corrosion performance of the lean duplex stainless steel (LDSS) UNS S32101. The correlation between microstructure and electrochemical behavior of the fusion line (FL) and fusion zone (FZ) has been investigated. In the study, six welded samples were manufactured with different welding parameters, specifically the welding current, travel speed and heat input. A mini-cell and Syringe Cell were used to characterize the electrochemical behavior of the different welded zones by means of the double loop electrochemical potentiokinetic reactivation test (DL-EPR) and potentiodynamic polarization tests. The results showed that the welding parameters tested in this study significantly affected the corrosion resistance of the LDSS UNS S32101. The heat-affected zone (HAZ) was the most susceptible zone to localized corrosion and the specific region most affected by corrosion process was that of the LDSS UNS S32101 adjacent to the FL.