Influence of available chlorine on corrosion behaviour of low alloy marine steel in natural seawater

Available chlorine is known to play a significant role in metal corrosion due to its oxidising properties. In this paper, the effect of available chlorine concentration on corrosion behaviour of the low alloy marine steel was investigated by electrochemical and immersion tests. Experimental results show that the corrosion rate of low alloy marine steel is accelerated with the increase of available chlorine concentration in seawater. The localised electrochemical dissolution of the steel is more active with the concentration of available chlorine increasing. Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) was performed to understand the composition of the corrosion products that the large enrichment of Cl element occurred for the high available chlorine concentration (100 ppm) after 720 h exposure to seawater. The influence of available chlorine concentration on mechanical property of low alloy marine steel indicatesthe less impact on the tensile and yield strength of the low alloy marine steel.