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Thanks for your kind cooperation, De Gruyter Journal-Name: Corrosion Reviews Article-DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/corrrev-2022-0071 Article-Title: Effect of environmental variables and main alloying elements on the repassivation potential of Ni–Cr– Mo–(W) alloys 59 and 686 Bitte vervoll€ndigen/ sta Please complete €ndern/To be Bitte a changed Author Meta Data Author 1 Surname Hornus First Name Edgar C. Corresponding yes E-Mail edgar.hornus@curtin.edu.au Affiliation 1 n Nacional de Energía Gerencia Materiales, Comisio mica, Instituto Sabato, UNSAM/CNEA, San Martín, Ato B1650KNA Buenos Aires, Argentina Institution 1 n Nacional de Energía Ato mica, Instituto Sabato, Comisio UNSAM/CNEA Department 1 Gerencia Materiales City 1 Buenos Aires Country 1 Argentina Author 2 3 Surname Rodríguez First Name Martín A. 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Queries and/or remarks [Q1] As per De Gruyter policy, no author list changes are permitted after acceptance of an article. The De Gruyter production team is instructed to enforce this policy during the production/ proofing process. [Q2] Please confirm that the forename(s) and surname(s) have been identified correctly and please carefully verify the spelling of all authors’ names. [Q3] Kindly note that, Section 3.2 had the same heading as 3.1; please give a different one for 3.2. [Q4] Please supply the name of the city and/or publisher for the reference(s) “ASTM G192-08, 2008, Davis, 2007”. [Q5] Please supply a page range for the reference “Hayes et al., 2006, Rodríguez et al., 2010”. [Q6] Please provide an update for reference “Igual Muñoz et al., 2004”. UNCORRECTED PROOF Corros Rev 2023; ▪▪▪(▪▪▪): 1–12 Original Article Q1 Q2 Edgar C. Hornus* and Martín A. Rodríguez Effect of environmental variables and main alloying elements on the repassivation potential of Ni–Cr–Mo–(W) alloys 59 and 686 https://doi.org/10.1515/corrrev-2022-0071 Received August 2, 2022; accepted November 25, 2022; published online ▪▪▪ Abstract: Chloride-induced crevice corrosion (ER,CREV) of alloys UNS N06059 and UNS N06686 was studied at different temperatures in 0.1, 1 and 10 M chloride solutions. Crevice corrosion occurred several degrees below the reported critical crevice temperatures obtained through standard immersion tests. The repassivation potential of the tested alloys as a function of temperature and chloride concentration was given by ER,CREV = (A + BT)log[Cl−] + CT + D for a range of environmental conditions. When temperature and chloride concentration increased ER,CREV showed a lesser dependence on the environmental variables. The repassivation potential of Ni–Cr–Mo–(W) alloys was described by a new proposed equation in terms of [Cl−], T, Cr, Mo and W, alloys in wt%. The dependence of ER,CREV with the weight % of main alloying elements was 5–6 mV/%Cr, 17–18 mV/%Mo and ∼9 mV/%W, at 85 °C in chloride solutions. An optimal main alloying elements relationship was noted that maximizes the ER,CREV value. The optimal alloy ratio would be 1:3.3:1.65 for wt%Cr, wt%Mo and wt%W, the same factors as in the PRE equation. The optimal alloying ratio would be independent of the alloy composition since it is not a function of the content of main elements. Keywords: chloride; crevice corrosion; nickel alloys; temperature. 1 Introduction Nickel-based alloys are widely used in the chemical process, oil and gas, nuclear industries because of their resistance to *Corresponding author: Edgar C. Hornus, Gerencia Materiales, Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Instituto Sabato, UNSAM/CNEA, San Martín, B1650KNA Buenos Aires, Argentina, E-mail: hornus@cnea.gov.ar Martín A. Rodríguez, Gerencia Materiales, Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Instituto Sabato, UNSAM/CNEA, San Martín, B1650KNA Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina highly aggressive environmental conditions. Because of their FCC structure, nickel-based alloys have excellent ductility, malleability and formability. These alloys are selected due to their outstanding resistance to localized corrosion and stress corrosion cracking in hot chloride solutions (Rebak 2000, 2005). Nickel-based alloys are classified into two groups: those designed for low-temperature or aqueous solution applications and those designed to resist high-temperatures or dry gaseous corrosion. The alloys resistant to high temperature are known as heat-resistant alloys (HRA), and those designed for the low-temperatures are known as corrosion resistant alloys (CRA). From a chemical point of view, the CRAs may be grouped as (1) commercial Ni pure alloys, (2) Ni–Cu alloys, (3) Ni–Mo alloys, (4) Ni–Cr–Mo alloys, and (5) Ni–Cr–Fe alloys (Rebak 2000). Ni–Cr–Mo alloys are the most versatile nickel alloys since they contain molybdenum, which imparts resistance against corrosion in reducing acidic media and chromium, which provides protection under oxidizing conditions (Agarwal and Kloewer 2001; Rebak and Crook 2000). Chromium addition helps to form a protective chromium oxide film (Cr2O3) on the material surface and protects against further environmental degradation. The major applications of Ni–Cr–Mo alloys are in hot-chloride-containing solutions, where most stainless steels suffer pitting corrosion, crevice corrosion and stress corrosion cracking. Thus, the Ni–Cr–Mo alloys are highly resistant, if not immune, to hot chlorideinduced attacks in most industrial applications (Rebak 2000, 2008). Pitting Resistant Equivalent (PRE) is a parameter used to characterize the localized corrosion resistance of nickelbased alloys (Szklarska-Smialowska 1986). Equation (1) defines the value of PRE concerning the weight percentages of key alloying agents Cr, Mo and W. PRE = %Cr + 3.3(%Mo + 0.5 % W) (1) Several researchers state that Cr is the main element that protects against the initiation of the localized corrosion by its resistance to the passivity breakdown, whereas Mo and W act on the repassivation of the localized corrosion once it has been generated (Kehler et al. 2001; CORRREV-2022-0071_proof ■ 17 January 2023 ■ 10:55 pm UNCORRECTED PROOF 2 E.C. Hornus and M.A. Rodríguez: Repassivation potential of Ni–Cr–Mo–(W) alloys 59 and 686 Maristany et al. 2016). Gruss et al. (1998) applied the Cyclic Potentiodynamic Polarization (CPP) technique to contrast the repassivation potential of alloys 825 (UNS N08825), 625 (UNS N06625) and C-22 (UNS N06022). They reported an increase in repassivation potential with the PRE value. Since alloys 625 and C-22 have similar Cr content, the superior corrosion resistance of alloy C-22 was due to its higher Mo content. Zadorozne et al. (2012) observed that Cr is necessary on the alloy to form a passive protective film, but when the passive film is destroyed, the presence of Mo in the alloy is the crucial element that controls a quick repassivation. Alloys 59 (UNS N06059) and 686 (UNS N06686) were designed to outperform alloy C-22 under reducing conditions without sacrificing its properties under oxidizing conditions (Heubner et al. 1989). Mishra and Frankel (2008) contrast the initiation of crevice corrosion and the repassivation of alloys C-276 (UNS N10276) and 686, which contain 16 wt% Cr and 21 wt% Cr, respectively, and both containing 16 wt% Mo and 4 wt% W. They concluded that whereas Cr affected the critical crevice corrosion potential for crevice corrosion initiation, Cr content had little effect on the repassivation potential. The effect of W on localized corrosion resistance has not been studied to the same magnitude as other alloying elements such as Cr and Mo. Some researchers agree that there is an optimal concentration range of W, and that outside this range, W would become ineffective or harmful (Sedriks 1986; Kim and Kwon 1999). Szklarska-Smialowska (1986) mentions a particular W-to-Mo ratio where a synergistic effect leads to maximum corrosion performance. Above the Critical Crevice Temperature (CCT), the crevice corrosion resistance of an alloy in a given environmental condition is usually measured by its Repassivation Potential (ER,CREV) (Carranza 2008; Rebak 2005). Occurrence of localized corrosion, such as pitting or crevice corrosion, depends on the medium and metallurgical parameters combined effects. At elevated temperature/acidic medium, presence halogens and salt formation deposits lead to local depassivation in the form of cracks or pinholes (Sosa Haudet et al. 2015). The higher the crevice corrosion resistance of an alloy, the higher its ER,CREV. Among the many methods used to obtain ER,CREV, the Potentiodynamic-Galvanostatic-Potentiodynamic (PD-GSPD) test with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)-wrapped ceramic formers has shown the most conservative results (Giordano et al. 2011). This study aimed to investigate the effects of the temperature, chloride solutions and alloying elements on the repassivation potential of the nickel-based alloys N06059 and N06686. 2 Materials and methods The alloy specimens were obtained from wrought mill annealed (MA) plate stock. Their chemical composition are listed in Table 1, including their PRE value. The specimens were prepared following ASTM G192 (2008) standard, with creviced spots formed by two ceramic washers (24 artificially creviced sites) wrapped with a 70 µm-thick PTFE tape. The tested surface was approximately 14 cm2. The applied torque to the artificial crevice formers was 5 N m. Specimens were polished down to 600 grit SiC paper, rinsed with ultrapure water, degreased with acetone and ethanol and forced dried. The PD-GS-PD method was used to determine the crevice corrosion repassivation potentials. The PD-GS-PD method is a modification of the Tsujikawa-Hisamatsu Electrochemical (THE) method (Giordano et al. 2011; Mishra and Frankel 2008; Rincón Ortíz et al. 2010), and it consists of three main stages (Figure 1): – A potentiodynamic polarization (at a scan rate of 0.167 mV/s) in the anodic direction up to an anodic current of 20 μA/cm2. – A galvanostatic step with an application of 20 μA/cm2 for 2 h. – A potentiodynamic polarization (at a scan rate of 0.167 mV/s) in the cathodic direction, from the end potential of the previous setup to reaching alloy repassivation (ER,CREV or cross-over potential). Previous to the test, the Open-Circuit Potential (OCP) was measured for 600 s and afterwards, a galvanostatic pre-treatment of 5 μA during 300 s was applied. The post-test analysis included Light Optical Microscopy (LOM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). All the electrochemical experiments were led in a 3-electrode glass vessel with a 1 L capacity. The testing solutions were 0.1 M NaCl, 1 M NaCl and 5 M CaCl2, and the applied temperatures varied from 50 to 117 °C. Evaporation of the solution was avoided by a water-cooled condenser. The entire cell was immersed in a constant temperature water bath to control the test temperature. Pure nitrogen (N2) gas was purged into the solution 1 h before and throughout the electrochemical test. A water trap prevented oxygen re-ingress from the air. The reference electrode employed was a Saturated Calomel Electrode (SCE), which has a potential of +0.242 V with respect to the Standard Hydrogen Electrode (SHE) at room temperature. A high area platinum foil and/or a graphite bar were used as counter-electrodes. Potentiodynamic polarization tests were performed using prismatic specimens in similar deaerated neutral chloride solutions as the PD-GS-PD tests. The parallelepiped specimens were mounted with a PTFE compression gasket (ASTM G5 2002). A minimum torque was applied to the gasket to ensure a leak-proof assembly. The exposed area of the specimen was 8 cm2. Polarization test were performed at constant temperatures from 30 to 117 °C. The potential scan was started 50 mV below the OCP in the anodic direction at a scan rate of 0.167 mV/s. The test finished when the anodic current density reached a value of 1 mA/cm2. 3 Results and discussion 3.1 Polarization curves Polarization curves for alloys N06059 and N06686 recorded in NaCl and CaCl2 solutions at different temperatures are CORRREV-2022-0071_proof ■ 17 January 2023 ■ 10:55 pm UNCORRECTED PROOF E.C. Hornus and M.A. Rodríguez: Repassivation potential of Ni–Cr–Mo–(W) alloys 59 and 686 3 Table : Summary of electrochemical behaviors observed under different studied conditions, concerning Figure . Alloy Ni Cr Mo W Fe Co Si Mn C PRE N N a a a – .a . b . – . .b . .b . .b a a a b b b b b a Average value; bmaximum value. Figure 1: Steps of the PD-GS-PD technique used for determining crevice corrosion repassivation potentials. shown in Figure 2. These tests were carried out to determine the anodic behavior of the alloys, avoiding crevice corrosion phenomena, although, in some instances, it could not be avoided (Rodríguez et al. 2010). The curves showed an extensive passive zone with low passive currents approximately independent of temperature. The potential at which the current increased after the passive domain (breakdown potential) depended on the temperature and the solution. The breakdown potential was associated with the onset of transpassive film breakdown in most cases, and with crevice corrosion initiation in other cases. For both alloys, a pseudosecondary passive region (current density plateau before the transpassive domain) was observed between ∼0.4 VSCE and 0.6 VSCE. This was attributed to surface enrichment with Ni(OH)2 in the passive film (Mishra and Shoesmith 2013). The most striking difference among polarization curves in the tested solutions was the transpassive potential, where a wider passive zone was observed in CaCl2 solutions. With increased potential, a crevice corrosion breakdown and further repassivation were observed on the alloy N06059 at 60 °C. Crevice corrosion without further repassivation was observed for alloy N06059 at higher temperatures than 60 °C. Crevice corrosion was also found on the alloy surface under the top PTFE compression gasket. No crevice corrosion was observed on alloy N06686 under any tested condition. The absence of localized corrosion on alloy N06686 is consistent with its higher PRE value (Table 1). Although the Ca2+ solution used here corresponds to the highest aggressive ion concentration, a particular inhibitory effect of Ca2+ concerning Na+ is already known (Jiang et al. 2006). This inhibitory effect becomes less evident with increasing temperature, to the point that Carranza and Rebak (2009) did not observe any effect on ER,CREV at 90 °C. The polarization curve of alloy N06686 in CaCl2 5 M at 117 °C deviates from the behavior observed at lower temperatures and shows a similar shape to those in NaCl solutions (Figure 2b). Deviation behavior is supposed that corresponds to a suppression of the Ca2+ inhibition by the high temperature on alloy N06686, and crevice corrosion on alloy N06059 may have overshadowed the apparent suppression of the Ca2+ inhibition. 3.2 Polarization curves Figure 3 shows PD-GS-PD tests performed on alloy N06686 in chloride solutions at different temperatures. The outcome of the PD-GS-PD tests depended on the alloy, the chloride concentration and the temperature. For both alloys and solution/temperature conditions, the measured PD-GS-PD curves exhibited a shape similar to one of the five reference curves shown in Figure 3 (Types 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5). The experimental conditions and the electrochemical behavior exhibited by each alloy are summarized in Table 2. At temperatures higher than 80 °C, both alloys showed a Type 1 behavior (Figure 3a), which is the most common outcome of the PD-GS-PD method. In those conditions, the crevice corrosion initiation potential (ECREV) is indicated by a sudden increase of the current density. The potential decreases during the galvanostatic step, with a final repassivation and a positive hysteresis loop during the potentiodynamic polarization in the cathodic direction. Post-test LOM/SEM examination revealed crevice corrosion damage occurred in all the specimens. For specimens tested in CaCl2 solutions, the appearance of the alloys was clean and without corrosion products, Figures 4a and 5a for alloys N06686 and N06059 at 90 °C. The localized attack on the specimen tested in CaCl2 5 M spread out from the covered area by the crevice former teeth. The localized attack was CORRREV-2022-0071_proof ■ 17 January 2023 ■ 10:55 pm Q3 UNCORRECTED PROOF 4 E.C. Hornus and M.A. Rodríguez: Repassivation potential of Ni–Cr–Mo–(W) alloys 59 and 686 Figure 2: Polarization curves in deaerated 0.1–1 M NaCl and 5 M CaCl2 at 30, 60, 90 and 117 °C for alloys. (a) N06059 and (b) N06686. Potential scan rate: 0.6 V/h. crystalline where grains and stacking faults were discernible in SEM images (Rebak 2005). For specimens tested in NaCl 0.1 and 1 M solutions, the attack was discontinued and full of corrosion products on the alloy surface and below the crevice former teeth, as shown in Figure 5b, c. Type 2 curves (Figure 3a) were observed in tests performed in CaCl2 5 M solution at temperatures from 60 to 90 °C for the alloy N06059 and at 90 °C for alloy N06686. The PD-GSPD tests with Type 2 behavior showed similar ECREV to Type 1 (Figure 3a), but a sudden increase in the recorded potential during the second step (galvanostatic step). The potential reached high values up to the transpassivity range and remained there throughout the entire stage. Mishra and Shoesmith (2014) observed similar behavior on the galvanostatic step of the PD-GS-PD test on the 686 alloy on NaCl 1 M at T < 80 °C. The potentiodynamic polarization in the cathodic direction (third stage of the method) showed a decreased current density (negative hysteresis loop) up to a reactivation peak and subsequent repassivation. The reactivation peak exceeded the current density value of the previous galvanostatic stage, up to 200 μA/cm2 at +50 m VSCE. Repassivation potentials were similar to those obtained on Type 1 (Figure 3a). LOM/SEM examination revealed a more profound and rough attack than Type 1 (Figure 4b). The unbright surface under the crevice formers showed an aggressive localized corrosion as the elevated charge circulated. Rebak (2005) characterized that surface with a spotty dull grey appearance, with isolated crystallographic etch pits. Rebak argued that this type of corrosion occurs when potentials above transpassivity are applied to the specimen in non-aggressive solutions, this is low chloride concentration or low temperatures. In contrast, this type of attack was observed with the highest chloride concentration in this work. Type 3 curves (Figure 3b) were also observed in tests performed in CaCl2 solution at 60 °C for the alloy N06059 and at temperatures of 80 and 90 °C for alloy N06686. The PD-GSPD tests that showed Type 3 behavior did not show an ECREV as Type 1 and 2. Instead, a wide passive range is observed until the current density threshold is obtained at transpassive potentials. The recorded potential during the second step (galvanostatic) did not show changes over time. The potentiodynamic polarization in the cathodic direction (third stage of the method) showed a similar behavior than in Type 2, following the current density path from the first stage of the technique until the reactivation peak. The reactivation peak did not exceed the galvanostatic current density value of the previous step. LOM/SEM examination revealed a rough attack similar to that of Type 2 (Figure 4c), even with a low-peak current density, and it is supposed that CORRREV-2022-0071_proof ■ 17 January 2023 ■ 10:55 pm UNCORRECTED PROOF E.C. Hornus and M.A. Rodríguez: Repassivation potential of Ni–Cr–Mo–(W) alloys 59 and 686 5 Figure 3: Examples of behaviors exhibited during PD-GS-PD tests on chloride solutions: Types 1–5. The results correspond to alloy N06686, and the multiple curves are replicate tests to illustrate reproducibility. Table : Summary of electrochemical behaviors observed under different studied conditions, concerning Figure . Alloy N − T (°C)/[Cl ] N . M M M . M M M – – – ① ④ ④ ④ ⑤ – – – ① ④ ④ ④ ⑤ ① ① ① ①② ①② ② ②③ ⑤ – – – ① ④ ④ ⑤ – – – – ① ④ ④ ④ ⑤ ① ① ① ①②③ ③ ⑤ – – the charge circulated by the current density peak contributes to the observed crevice corrosion. Type 4 curves (Figure 3c) were observed in tests performed in NaCl solution at temperatures from 60 to 80 °C for alloy N06059 and alloy N06686 at temperatures from 70 to 80 °C in NaCl 0.1 M and 60–80 °C in NaCl 1 M. The recorded potential during the galvanostatic step (second step) did not show changes over time, the same as Type 3 behavior. The potentiodynamic polarization in the cathodic direction (third stage of the method) showed higher current densities than the first stage, obtaining a positive hysteresis loop. No reactivation peaks were observed on NaCl solutions. LOM/ SEM examination revealed a similar attack to Figure 5b, c (not shown). Type 5 curves (Figure 3d) indicated the absence of localized corrosion. Type 5 curves were observed at 50 °C for alloy N06059 and at 60 °C in NaCl 0.1 M, 50 °C in NaCl 1 M and 70 °C in CaCl2 5 M for alloy N06686. LOM/SEM examination revealed no crevice corrosion. The recorded potential did not show any change over time during the galvanostatic step. No significant hysteresis between the forward (step 1) and reverse (step 3) curves were observed. This was indicated by the current density retracing the forward scan until finally achieving values lesser than those recorded during the forward scan. CORRREV-2022-0071_proof ■ 17 January 2023 ■ 10:55 pm UNCORRECTED PROOF 6 E.C. Hornus and M.A. Rodríguez: Repassivation potential of Ni–Cr–Mo–(W) alloys 59 and 686 Figure 4: SEM and macroscopic images of alloy N06686 specimens after testing in 5 M CaCl2 at 90 °C (a and b are Type 1 and 2 respectively) and at 80 °C (c is Type 3). Figure 5: SEM and macroscopic images of alloy N06059 specimens after testing in 5 M CaCl2 (a), 1 M NaCl (b) and 0.1 M NaCl (c) at 90 °C. All of them with Type 1 behavior. Some PD-GS-PD tests performed in alloys N06059 and N06686 reached transpassive potentials during stage 1 and remained at those high potentials during stage 2. The transpassive zone of potentials is characterized by a loss of stability of the passive layer, where the electrochemical conversion of the Cr (III) oxide into soluble Cr (VI) species CORRREV-2022-0071_proof ■ 17 January 2023 ■ 10:55 pm UNCORRECTED PROOF E.C. Hornus and M.A. Rodríguez: Repassivation potential of Ni–Cr–Mo–(W) alloys 59 and 686 occurs (Hayes et al. 2006; Mishra et al. 2016). Henderson et al. (2019) observed that Ni (II) is the principal cation released during transpassive dissolution on Ni–Cr–Mo alloys, while some Cr but mainly Mo are retained, enriching the surface in these elements. The same authors observed that during repassivation, the Mo that enriched the metallic surface is subsequently released during repassivation. This release of Mo surface could be related to the sudden increase in current density, and the peak observed at [Cl−] = 10 M (Figure 3a, b) by a hypothetical depletion of this alloying element on the metallic surface after it was released during repassivation. Figure 6 shows ER,CREV from the PD-GS-PD method on alloys N06059 and N06686, with the temperature for NaCl 0.1 M, NaCl 1 M and CaCl2 5 M. The symbols are the average values, and the error bars represent the standard deviation. The CCT inferred for alloy N06059 from the present results was between 50 and 60 °C. For alloy N06686, crevice corrosion was observed at T ≥ 60, 70, and 80 °C for [Cl−] = 1 M, [Cl−] = 0.1 M and [Cl−] = 10 M solutions, respectively. From the present results, CCT for alloy N06686 was estimated between 50 and 60 °C, as for alloy N06059. A considerable lower CCT was obtained with the PD-GS-PD method compared to those obtained by Agarwal et al. (2000), which following ASTM G48 (10% FeCl3 solutions), report CPT > 85 °C for both alloy N06059 and alloy N06686. Equation (2) states a relationship between ER,CREV chloride concentration and temperature. This empirical equation was used at first by Dunn et al. (2006) for alloy C-22 (UNS N06022). In previous works, Equation (2) shows a good fitting for ER,CREV of Ni–Cr–Mo–W alloys with temperature and chloride solutions (Hornus et al. 2014, 2015; Maristany et al. 2015). It was fitted to a range of the collected data for alloys N06059 and N06686. A, B, C and D are constants parameters that depend on each alloy. Figure 6 also shows the fits of 7 Equation (2) with dash-line for the two alloys. The comparison of the ER,CREV values of the tested alloys as a function of temperature and chloride concentration indicates that their corrosion resistance increased according to their corresponding PRE, being N06059 < N06686. When the temperature and chloride concentration increased ER,CREV showed a lesser dependence on the environmental variables. E R, CREV = (A + B · T)log[Cl− ] + CT + D (2) The parameters obtained by least-square fits of Equation (2) are shown in Table 3 for alloy N06059 and Table 4 for alloy N06686. The correlation coefficients (R 2) obtained were 0.77 and 0.90 for alloys N06059 and N06686, respectively, which indicates that Equation (2) successfully represented ER,CREV as a function of temperature and chloride concentration for the tested alloys. Although the correlation coefficient on alloy N06059 was lower than that of alloy N06686, the standard deviations observed in the fitted parameters (A, B, C, D) were at least one order of magnitude lower than the mean values, in all cases. Regardless of that a similar normal distribution of ER,CREV is expected around the average values given by the fits, the high error bars on ER,CREV values for alloy N06059 in NaCl 1 M at 70 °C and NaCl 0.1 M at 60 °C (Figure 6) could contribute to its low correlation coefficients. Table : Fitted parameters for the N alloy from Equation () (R = .). Parameter Value Standard error A B C D −. VSCE . V/K −. V/K . VSCE . V . V/K . V/K . V Figure 6: ER,CREV of alloys N06059 and N06686 as a function of temperature. Average ER,CREV and standard deviation values are represented along with the fit of Equation (2). CORRREV-2022-0071_proof ■ 17 January 2023 ■ 10:55 pm UNCORRECTED PROOF 8 E.C. Hornus and M.A. Rodríguez: Repassivation potential of Ni–Cr–Mo–(W) alloys 59 and 686 Table : Fitted parameters for the N alloy from Equation () (R = .). Parameter Value Standard error A B C D −. VSCE . V/K −. V/K . VSCE . V . V/K . V/K . V 3.3 Alloying effects on ER,CREV Dunn’s empirical equation for ER,CREV has shown an excellent correlation for the repassivation potential with environmental variables such as temperature and chloride solution concentration. Their parameter A indicates the variation of ER,CREV with log[Cl−] independently of the temperature, the parameter C indicates the variation of ER,CREV with T independently of the log[Cl−], B shows the temperature-dependent variation of ER,CREV with log[Cl−] and D an independent parameter. Nevertheless, all parameters depend on the alloy composition. Obtaining an equation for ER,CREV that involves the environmental parameters and the main alloying elements would help to quantify the individual effects of main alloying elements on ER,CREV. Linear behaviors of different corrosion parameters such as Critical Pitting Temperature (CPT) and Critical Crevice Temperature (CCT) with the PRE value were observed by various researchers on Ni alloys and stainless steels (Sarmiento Klapper et al. 2017; Sedriks 1996). Sosa Haudet et al. (2012) obtained ER,CREV by the PD-GS-PD method for several Ni–Cr–Mo–W alloys in chloride solutions. They observed a linear behavior of the ER,CREV with the PRE values on NaCl 1 M and CaCl2 5 M at 60 °C. Similar linear shapes of ER,CREV with PRE were reported by Zadorozne et al. (2012) on Ni–Cr–Mo–W alloys on NaCl solutions. The linear relationships observed by Sosa Haudet et al. and others could be extended from a phenomenological point of view to different temperatures and chloride concentrations as follows: E R, CREV = ER, CREV A1, B1, C1, D1 + PRE{ER, CREV A2, B2, C2, D2} (3) where ER, CREV A1, B1, C1, D1 and E R, CREV A2, B2, C2, D2 represent Equation (2) and PRE corresponds to Equation (1). The extended or explicit form of Equation (3) for fitting is shown as follows: ER, CREV = (A1 + B1 T)log[Cl− ] + C 1 T + D1 + PRE{(A2 + B2 T)log[Cl− ] + C 2 T + D2 } (4) Figure 7 shows the fitted Equation (4) for alloys N06059 and N06686 (this work) and alloys N06625, N06022, N07022, and N10362 (Hornus et al. 2014) as a function of temperature Figure 7: Individual ER,CREV for alloys N06059 and N06686 (this work) and for alloys N06625, N06022, N07022, and N10362 (Hornus et al. 2014) alloys as a function of temperature. Dash lines correspond to the fit of Equation (4). and chloride solution concentration. Equation (4) shows a complex interdependence of environmental variables ([Cl−] and T) and the content of alloying elements (PRE) to determine ER,CREV. The parameters obtained by least-square fits of Equation (4) are shown in Table 5. A similar fit shape was observed with Equation (2) for alloys N06059 and N06686 and the other Ni–Cr–Mo–W alloys. The correlation coefficient (R 2) obtained with Equation (4) was 0.83 for the six alloys, which is better than the one obtained for alloy N06059 (R2 = 0.77) with Equation (2) but lower than that observed for alloys N06625 (R2 = 0.90), N06022 (R2 = 0.92), N07022 (R2 = 0.92), N10362 (R2 = 0.98) (Hornus et al. 2014) and N06686 (R2 = 0.90). Figure 7 shows a high dispersion of the repassivation potential for all alloys with a chloride concentration less than or equal to 1 M. The statistical dispersion of the repassivation CORRREV-2022-0071_proof ■ 17 January 2023 ■ 10:55 pm UNCORRECTED PROOF 9 E.C. Hornus and M.A. Rodríguez: Repassivation potential of Ni–Cr–Mo–(W) alloys 59 and 686 Table : Fitted parameters for all the alloys from Equation () (R = .). Parameter Value Standard error A B C D A B C D . VSCE −. V/K −. V/K −. VSCE −. VSCE . V/K −. V/K . VSCE . V . V/K . V/K . V . V . V/K . V/K . V potentials observed in 10 M chloride solutions is considerably lower than for the other chloride concentrations. Miller and Lillard (2019) studied the nucleation and growth stages of crevice corrosion by potentiostatic methods measuring 50–1000 µA in alloy 625 in 1 M NaCl, and they observed that the completion of the growth stage exceeded 48 h. According to them, the repassivation during the growth stage is the reason for the high dispersion in repassivation potentials. The galvanostatic step on the PD-GS-PD method lasts only 2 h, and a rapid decrease in potential has been observed for high chloride concentrations, getting slower for the more dilute solutions, as in Figure 8. In general, for [Cl−] ≤ 1 M, the potential recorded during the galvanostatic stage does not finally stabilize, contributing to the high dispersion of ER,CREV. Figure 7 shows the fitted Equation (4) successfully represented ER,CREV as a temperature and chloride concentration function for the tested alloys depending on its PRE value. The terms of Equation (4) were regrouped to compare its fitted parameters with those of Equation (2) (individual fitted for each alloy) according to: ER, CREV = (A′ + B′ T)log[Cl− ] + C ′ T + D′ (5) where A′ = A1 + A2 * PRE, B′ = B1 + B2 * PRE, C′ = C1 + C2 * PRE and D′ = D1 + D2 * PRE. Figure 9 shows the fitted parameters of Equations (2) and (5) as a function of PRE. It can be seen that the parameters A (affected by chloride concentration) and D (independent of chloride concentration and temperature) showed a specular behavior with a different sign. The same is observed with parameters B and C. Figure 9 shows that the parameters of the fitted Equation (2) are very similar to those of Equation (5), except for those corresponding to the N06059, N06686 and N10362 alloys. The main difference between the three alloys that did not follow Equation (5) parameters is their composition’s null or low Co content. Co alloy is added to Ni alloys to increase the resistance to carburization and sulfidation as Co increases the solubility of C in Ni-based alloys (Davis 2000). The unmatched parameters for alloys N06059, N06686 and N10362 (indicated in Figure 9 with dot-lines) could suppose a Co effect that is not contemplated in the PRE equation. From Equation (4) and the fitted parameters (Table 5), we analyzed the effect of incremental values of Cr, Mo and W on ER,CREV. The derivatives of ER,CREV concerning Cr, Mo and W were calculated and evaluated for each alloy, chloride concentration and temperature. Figure 10 shows dER,CREV/d [%Cr], dER,CREV/d[%Mo] and dER,CREV/d[%W] in weight percent for 0.1–10 M chloride concentration as a function of temperature. The three derivate behaviors are the same with the Y-axis modification. The largest effect on repassivation potentials with increasing Cr, Mo or W alloys would be observed at low temperatures and chloride ion concentrations. In a particular case, there is a temperature for which the increase in repassivation potential would be independent of the chloride ion concentration (∼84.1 °C) and a Figure 8: Galvanostatic step of the PD-GS-PD method for alloys N06059 and N06686 at 90 °C in chloride solutions with different concentrations. CORRREV-2022-0071_proof ■ 17 January 2023 ■ 10:55 pm UNCORRECTED PROOF 10 E.C. Hornus and M.A. Rodríguez: Repassivation potential of Ni–Cr–Mo–(W) alloys 59 and 686 Figure 9: Fitted parameters of Equations (2) and (5) as a function of PRE. Dot lines show the PREs of alloys N06059, N06686 and N10362. chloride ion concentration for which the repassivation potential would be independent of temperature (∼3.36 M). At 85 °C (where slopes are independent of chloride concentration), the Cr–Mo–W contribution to the ER,CREV on Ni-based alloys was about 5–6 mV/%Cr, 17–18 mV/%Mo and ∼9 mV/%W. Sosa Haudet et al. (2012) obtained dER,CREV/dPRE from several Ni-based alloys in NaCl 1 M and CaCl2 5 M at 60 °C. As we could not represent directly dER,CREV/dPRE on Figure 10, we can obtained them as dER,CREV/d[alloy] = dER,CREV/ dPRE × dPRE/d[alloy] with alloy as %Cr, %Mo or %W. The variation of ER,CREV with the alloying elements from Sosa are in excellent agreement with this work and almost Figure 10: dER,CREV/d[%Cr] (black), dER,CREV/d[%Mo] (red) and dER,CREV/d [%W] (green) in weight percent for 0.1–10 M chloride concentration as a function of temperature. superimposed on our results (Figure 10, Sosa Haudet 2012). Sosa Haudet et al. (2015) also studied the effect of the alloying elements in ER,CREV for NaCl 1 M at 60 °C with artificial neural networks. Their results are in Figure 10 (Sosa Haudet 2015) with an overestimation effect for W and sub-estimation for Cr and Mo concerning the present work. It is important to note that a large amount of data and training are necessary for artificial neuronal networks to obtain reliable values. Igual Muñoz et al. (2004) studied the ER,CREV on the alloys 33 and 31 in LiBr solutions at a scan rate of 0.5 mV/s and different temperatures. The variation of ER,CREV with Mo are close to those obtained in the present work, even increasing with the temperature (Figure 10, Muñoz). The Mo effect on ER,CREV reported by Muñoz is higher than in the present work. The less aggressive bromide solutions plus the overlapped effect of increased Mo with a Cr falling could explain its behavior even when Mo is not as effective in inhibiting Br− localized corrosion as it is for inhibiting Cl− localized corrosion (Kappes 2019). Ha et al. (2017) observed a higher W effect on ER,CREV than the actual work on duplex stainless steels at 90 °C with a scan rate of 2 mV/s. Each derivate from Equation (4) gives us information about the behavior of ER,CREV with the different variables and parameters. Classical mathematical analysis tells us that the gradient of a function allows us to observe the direction of maximum growth of the function (Marsden et al. 1993). Considering the triple Cr–Mo–W as if it were a vector entity, it is possible to obtain the vector components (in this case, the relation among them) that maximize ER,CREV. The “alloy vector” of maximum growth of ER,CREV are dependent on the environmental variables (chloride concentration and temperature) that become independent of them when normalized. The ratio of alloys that maximizes the value of ER,CREV is 1:3.3:1.65 for Cr, Mo and W, respectively. It should be noted that the ratio of the alloy that maximizes ER,CREV has the same factors as the PRE (Equation 1). The optimal alloying CORRREV-2022-0071_proof ■ 17 January 2023 ■ 10:55 pm UNCORRECTED PROOF E.C. Hornus and M.A. Rodríguez: Repassivation potential of Ni–Cr–Mo–(W) alloys 59 and 686 ratio would be independent of the initial composition of the alloy since it has constant values, i.e., an alloying increase of 1:3.3:1.65 in Cr, Mo and W on alloy N06022 would increase the ER,CREV values in a maximum way, the same as it would on alloy N10362. 4 Summary and conclusions The crevice corrosion resistance of alloys N06059 and N06686 was assessed in 0.1–10 M chloride solutions at temperatures ranging from 50 °C to 117 °C. Alloy N06059 suffered crevice corrosion at T ≥ 60 °C, while N06686 alloy suffered crevice corrosion at T ≥ 60 for [Cl−] = 1 M, at T ≥ 70 °C for [Cl−] = 0.1 M and at T ≥ 80 °C for [Cl−] = 10 M. These results showed that the studied Ni alloys may suffer crevice corrosion tens of degrees below the reported critical crevice temperatures obtained through immersion tests. The repassivation potential of the tested alloys as a function of temperature and chloride concentration is given by ER,CREV = (A + BT)log[Cl−] + CT + D for a range of environmental conditions. When the temperature and chloride concentration increased ER,CREV showed a lesser dependence on these environmental variables. The repassivation potential of nickel-based alloys depends on temperature, chloride concentration, and PRE. The following equation was proposed: ER,CREV = (A1 + B1T)log [Cl−] + C1T + D1 + PRE{(A2 + B2T)log[Cl−] + C2T + D2} for a range of Ni–Cr–Mo–W alloys. The dependence of ER,CREV with the content of main alloying elements is included in the PRE (PRE = %Cr + 3.3(%Mo + 0.5%W)). When the temperature and chloride concentration decreased ER,CREV showed a higher dependence on the content of main alloying elements. Dependence of ER,CREV with the contents of alloying elements is described by the slopes dER,CREV/d(wt%Cr) ≈ 5– 6 mV/wt%Cr, dER,CREV/d(wt%Mo) ≈ 17–18 mV/wt%Mo and dER,CREV/d(wt%W) ≈ 9 mV/wt%W, at 85 °C in chloride solutions. The ratio of alloys that maximizes the ER,CREV value is 1:3.3:1.65 for wt%Cr, wt%Mo and wt%W, the same factors as in the PRE equation. The optimal alloying ratio would be independent of the alloy composition since it is not a function of the content of main elements. Acknowledgments: The authors are grateful to Dr. Mariano Kappes for his valuable comments. 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