Tribocorrosion Behavior and Degradation Mechanism of 316L Stainless Steel in Typical Corrosive Media

The tribocorrosion behavior and degradation mechanism of 316L stainless steel, in four typically industrial corrosion media, under different potentials, were studied. The results indicated that they strongly depended on corrosion medium and electrode potential. When the potential increased from cathodic protection region to anodic region, corrosion was accelerated. It dramatically promoted mechanical wear which even dominated the total material loss. As a result, the total material loss increased sharply, though the material degradation directly caused by corrosion was slight. This phenomenon was more noticeable when the media were more aggressive. Especially in NaCl solution, the occurrence of pitting corrosion at anodic potential dramatically accelerated the degradation of the stainless steel. There was a special case in NaOH solution under cathodic protection potential. The corrosive reaction could still occur and couple with wear, which led to the abnormally great material loss compared with that in other corrosion media.