Localized corrosion and stress corrosion cracking behavior of austenitic stainless steel weldments containing retained ferrite. Annual progress report, June 1, 1978--March 31, 1979

Localized corrosion and stress corrosion cracking experiments have been performed on single phase 304 stainless steel alloys and autogeneous weldments containing retained delta ferrite as a second phase. The results of the pitting experiments show that the pressure of delta ferrite decreases localized corrosion resistance with pits initiating preferentially at delta ferrite--gamma austenite interphase boundaries. This increased susceptibility is reversible with elevated temperature heat treatments which revert the metastable ferrite phase to the equilibrium austenite phase