Effect of Ni on the oxygen reduction reaction for low alloy steels in thin electrolyte layer conditions

Abstract The corrosion behavior of carbon and a Ni-containing steel is investigated in the environment of a thin electrolyte layer. Potentiodynamiccathodic polarization curves were determined using a thin electrolyte layer apparatus at ordinary and negative pressure environments. Oxygen reduction is an important cathodic reaction for carbon steel in the present study. However, the suppression of oxygen reduction occurred for Ni-containing steels. The inhibition of oxygen reduction was closely correlated with the formation of the amorphization of the corrosion product, which contained amount of Ni, formed on the Ni-containing steel.