Erosion-corrosion resistance of various stainless steel grades in high-temperature sulfuric acid solution

Two austenitic stainless steel grades, 316L and 904L, and three duplex stainless steel grades, LDX 2101, 2205, and 2507, were erosion-corrosion tested as impeller blade materials for hydrometallurgical applications. Samples were attached to the pressure and suction sides of an impeller and were tested in 50 g/l H2SO4 and 0.5 g/l Fe2(SO4)3 for 72 h at 80°C and 95 °C in a small-scale reactor using quartz sand slurry. The results showed that under lower erosion intensity the ranking of the grades was similar to that in pure erosion. Under higher erosion intensity the ranking of the grades changed completely: lean alloys LDX 2101 and 316L suffered from the highest mass losses followed by 2205, 2507, and 904L. To clarify this behavior, the ability of the grades to repassivate was investigated with scratch tests. It was found that the ranking could be explained by the repassivation rates. The only exception was that 2507 showed a similar repassivation rate to 904L but its erosion-corrosion mass loss under higher erosion intensity was larger. One contributing factor to this was found to be the selective dissolution of the austenite phase of all the tested duplex grades. The prerequisites for the galvanic coupling between the phases that was responsible for the selective dissolution are discussed.