Acta Metallurgica Sinica (English Letters) ›› 2018, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (12): 1233-1239.DOI: 10.1007/s40195-018-0746-0

Special Issue: 2018年腐蚀专辑

• Orginal Article •     Next Articles

Modification of Corrosion Resistance of the Plain Carbon Steels by Pulsed Electric Current

Jun-Yang Gao1, Xue-Bing Liu1, Hai-Fei Zhou2, Xin-Fang Zhang1()   

  1. 1 School of Metallurgical and Ecological Engineering,University of Science and Technology Beijing,Beijing 100083, China
    2 Zhejiang Electric Power Corporation Research Institute,Hangzhou 310014, China
  • Received:2018-01-03 Revised:2018-04-19 Online:2018-12-10 Published:2018-12-18
  • About author:

    Author brief introduction:Dao-Kui Xu Professor of IMR, CAS, and “Young Merit Scholar” of Corrosion Center in the Institute of Metal Research (IMR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He achieved Ph.D. degree from IMR, CAS, in 2008, during which he obtained “Chinese Academy of Sciences-BHP Billiton” Scholarship award, “Shi Changxu” Scholarship award and “Zhu-LiYueHua” Excellent Doctorate Student Scholarship of Chinese Academy of Sciences. He worked as a Research Fellow in ARC Center of Excellence, Design of Light Metals, Department of Materials Engineering, Monash University, Australia (2008.10-2011.10). He published more than 60 peer-reviewed scientific papers, attended 20 invited lectures and holds seven patents. His papers were cited more than 1200 times. His research interests mainly include: (1) fatigue behavior and fracture toughness of light metals, such as Mg, Al and Ti alloys; (2) effects of alloying, heat treatment and thermomechanical processes on the microstructural evolution and mechanical improvement of light metals; (3) corrosion, stress corrosion cracking and corrosion fatigue behavior of lightweight alloys; and (4) design of new lightweight alloys with a good balance of properties in terms of mechanical property and corrosion resistance.

Abstract:

The fracture of pipelines caused by corrosion cracks and the resulting oil and gas leakage can lead to great environmental pollution and economic losses. These negative effects are due to serious corrosion of the plain carbon steels used for armor of flexible pipe in oil and gas transmission medium. However, corrosion resistance of carbon steel armors has yet to be improved. In this study, the relationship between corrosion resistance and pearlite fraction in the plain carbon steels has been investigated through the application of pulsed electric current. Based on immersion test and electrochemical measurement, pulsed electric current increases the corrosion resistance of the plain carbon steels by reducing the fraction of pearlite phase. Pitting corrosion, which tends to initiate by galvanic corrosion of ferrite and cementite, is therefore inhibited due to the decrease in pearlite fraction (mixture of ferrite and cementite) under electropulsing.

Key words: Corrosion resistance, Pearlite, Pulsed electric current, Plain carbon steel