The pitting corrosion resistance and passive behavior of type 304 borated stainless steels (Fe_balance–18Cr–12Ni–1.5Mn–(0.19, 0.78, and 1.76 wt %)B) manufactured through conventional ingot metallurgy were investigated. The alloys were composed of an austenitic matrix and Cr₂B phase, and the volume fraction of Cr₂B increased from 1.68 to 22.66 vol % as the B content increased from 0.19 to 1.76 wt %. Potentiodynamic polarization tests measured in aqueous NaCl solutions revealed that the pitting corrosion resistance was reduced as the B content increased and the pits were initiated at the matrix adjacent to the Cr₂B phase. It was found that the reduced resistance to pitting corrosion by B addition was due to the formation of more defective and thinner passive film and increased pit initiation sites in the matrix.

Light element identification is necessary in materials research to obtain detailed insight into various material properties. However, reported techniques, such as scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM)-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) have inadequate detection limits, which impairs identification. In this study, we achieved light element identification with nanoscale spatial resolution in a multi-component metal alloy through unsupervised machine learning algorithms of singular value decomposition (SVD) and independent component analysis (ICA). Improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the STEM-EDS spectrum images was achieved by combining SVD and ICA, leading to the identification of a nanoscale N-depleted region that was not observed in as-measured STEM-EDS. Additionally, the formation of the nanoscale N-depleted region was validated using STEM–electron energy loss spectroscopy and multicomponent diffusional transformation simulation. The enhancement of SNR in STEM-EDS spectrum images by machine learning algorithms can provide an efficient, economical chemical analysis method to identify light elements at the nanoscale.

The effects of C-substitution for part of the N content, on the pitting corrosion resistance and repassivation tendencies of duplex stainless steels (DSSs) were investigated. For this investigation, normal UNS S32205 containing N only (DSS-N) and the C-substituted DSS (DSS-NC) were fabricated. Microstructural analyses confirmed that the two DSSs had dual-phase microstructures without precipitates, and they possessed similar initial microstructure, including their grain sizes and phase fractions. Polarization and immersion tests performed in concentrated chloride solutions revealed that the DSS-NC was more resistant against stable pitting corrosion and possessed a higher repassivation tendency than the DSS-N. Furthermore, the corrosion pits initiated and propagated to a less corrosion resistant α phase. Polarization tests and corrosion depth measurements conducted in an HCl solution indicated that the DSS-NC exhibited lower galvanic corrosion rate between the α and γ phases than the DSS-N. Therefore, the growth rate of pit embryo was lowered in the DSS-NC, which shifted the potentials for the stable pit initiation and the pit extinction to the higher values.

On newly developed Fe_balance-18Cr-7Mn-3Mo-3W-0.4N-(0.03, 0.57)Ni (in wt%) lean duplex stainless steels, the microstructure, element partitioning behavior, and resistance to pitting corrosion were investigated. After solution treatments, the two alloys were found to have similar microstructures in terms of phase fraction and grain size, and have a precipitation-free matrix. The polarization tests revealed that the addition of Ni was beneficial to improve the resistance to pitting corrosion, which was confirmed by the rise in pitting and repassivation potentials. The uniform corrosion behavior and galvanic corrosion rate of the matrix were investigated to explain the improved pitting corrosion resistance of the Ni-added lean duplex stainless steel. As a result, it was found that the addition of Ni enhanced the resistance to uniform corrosion by reducing the galvanic corrosion rate between the ferrite and austenite phases in the lean duplex stainless steel; thus, the pit growth rate was decreased, leading to improvement of the resistance to pitting corrosion.