Passivity breakdown of 13Cr stainless steel under high chloride and CO₂ environment

Herein, the effect of high chloride ion (Cl⁻) concentration on the corrosion behavior and passive film breakdown of 13Cr martensitic stainless steel under CO₂ environment was demonstrated. The Cl⁻ concentration was varied from 30 to 150 g/L and cyclic potentiodynamic polarization was conducted to investigate the influence of the Cl⁻ concentration on the corrosion potential (E_corr), passive breakdown potential (E_pit), and repassivation potential (E_rep). The results of the polarization curves revealed that 13Cr stainless steel is susceptible to pitting under high Cl⁻ concentration. The passive breakdown potential and repassivation potential decreased with the increase of Cl⁻ concentration. The semiconducting behavior of the passive film was investigated by Mott-Schottky analysis and the point defect model (PDM). It was observed that the iron cation vacancies and oxygen vacancies were continuously generated by autocatalytic reactions and the higher Cl⁻ concentration resulted in higher vacancies in the passive film. Once the excess vacancies condensed at the metal/film interface, the passive film became locally detached from the metal, which led to the breakdown of the passive film.