Corrosion Behavior of Super Austenitic Stainless Steel 904L Weldment in Sulfuric Acid Media Used for Leaching Application

This article reports the corrosion behavior of 904L weldment in sulfuric acid as a strong corrosive media. The corrosion behavior was studied by total immersion tests and potentidynamic polarization test. Total immersion test has been conducted at different acid concentrations typically: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 18.4 M at 25°C. The effect of temperature (25- 100°C) on the weight loss measurements of the alloy samples was followed in the 4 M acid solution. On the other hand, potentiodynamic polarization tests were conducted in 2,5, 8 and 18.4 M H2SO4 solution. The potentiodynamic polarization test was also conducted in the practically used leaching medium (2 M H2SO4 + 10% monazite).Results show that the weight loss increases with the increase of acid concentration and reaches its maximum at 4 M H2SO4 and then gradually decreases. Meanwhile, the rise in temperatures results in the increase of weight loss. Potentiodynamic polarization tests indicate that the 5 M acid solution gives the highest corrosion rate of 0.6399 mm/Y. The leaching medium shows relatively higher corrosion rate (0.124 mm/y) than the corresponding 2 M H2SO4 without monazite (0.01712 mm/y).