The localized corrosion of resistant alloys in chloride solutions

A potentiostatic scratching technique has been used to study the breakdown potentials of stainless steel 304, Incoloy, Inconel 600, Monel 400 and Hastelloy C in chloride solution at pH 8 as a function of chloride activity, temperature and metal cold work. For the first four alloys break-down occurs through pitting. For Hastelloy C there is no pitting process, and breakdown occurs by a transpassive reaction, probably involving oxidation of Mo and Cr in the film to soluble anions.