On the effect of plastic pre-straining on the corrosion behaviour of a duplex stainless steel and how the emergence of slip steps affects the hydrogen evolution reaction kinetics

The effect of increasing pre-straining on the corrosion behaviour of UNS S32304 duplex stainless steel has been studied using potentiodynamic tests in a highly acidic chloride-rich solution. The emergence of slip steps in the austenitic phase has been particularly addressed showing that the hence modified topographies had a significant impact on the kinetics of the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) that, in turn, tuned a non-monotonic behaviour of the corrosion rate. An attempt is made to link the variation of the Electron Work Function (EWF) of the surface with the electrochemical results by quantifying slip steps using Atomic Force Microscopy.