An investigation on the effect of bleaching environment on pitting corrosion and transpassive dissolution of 316 stainless steel

Pitting corrosion and transpassive dissolution of 316 stainless steel in a solution containing five percent of commercial bleaching liquid was investigated by employing potentiodynamic polarization method and recording corrosion potential during immersion. Today commercial bleaching liquids are widely used as a cleaner additive. Therefore those house appliances made from stainless steels are in contact with aqueous solution containing bleaching liquid. This may cause severe localized corrosion and transpassive dissolution. In order to investigate the possibility of tranpassive dissolution of stainless steel by bleaching liquid, potentiodynamic polarization and recording the variation of corrosion potential of specimens were carried out in 0.2 M Na2SO4 solution containing 5%wt. commercial bleaching liquid. A 500 mV drop in transpassive potential and also instantaneously ennobled corrosion potential revealed the possibility of transpassive dissolution due to the oxidizing effect of the species such as free chlorine and its derivatives in bleaching liquid. Evaluation of the occurrence of localized corrosion at the presence of Cl- and bleaching liquid was investigated by similar electrochemical experiments in 0.2 M Na2SO4 divided by 0.4 M NaCl containing 5%wt. bleaching solution. Initiation of stable pitting at potentials lower than the transpassive potential as well as a sharp increase of the corrosion potential in this environment demonstrates the possibility of pitting corrosion.