Atmospheric Corrosion Behavior of Q460 and Q690 Low Alloy Steels in Antarctic Environment
YAN Maoxin1, LI Jie2, WANG Zhechao2, YAO Xu2, HU Bingchen2, GE Feng3, CUI Zhongyu1(), WANG Xin1, CUI Hongzhi1
1 School of Materials Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China 2 Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai 200136, China 3 Beijing National Innovation Institute of Lightweight Ltd, Beijing 100083, China
Cite this article:
YAN Maoxin, LI Jie, WANG Zhechao, YAO Xu, HU Bingchen, GE Feng, CUI Zhongyu, WANG Xin, CUI Hongzhi. Atmospheric Corrosion Behavior of Q460 and Q690 Low Alloy Steels in Antarctic Environment. Acta Metall Sin, 2025, 61(2): 297-308.
The environment of the polar regions substantially differs from that at middle and low altitudes, resulting in the distinct degradation behavior of materials in these environments. Low alloy steels with high strength and good corrosion resistance are widely used as structural steels in engineering, but their corrosion behavior in the Antarctic atmosphere has been rarely reported. In the present work, an outdoor exposure experiment was conducted at the Zhongshan station, a research station located in Antarctica, to investigate the atmospheric corrosion behavior of Q460 and Q690 low alloy steels after 1 and 12 month exposures. The surface and cross-sectional morphologies were observed by SEM, and the phase composition of the rust layer was identified by XRD and Raman spectroscopy. The surface morphology and topography of the steel after removing the corrosion products were visualized by SEM and CLSM, respectively. The results show that the electrochemical corrosion process can occur beneath the snow and ice layer in the extremely low temperatures of the Antarctic environment. In the early stage of exposure, the freeze-thaw cycling of ice and snow leads to the development of a surface electrolyte film which persists for a long time, and this promotes corrosion reactions and accelerates localized corrosion. The corrosion rates of Q460 steel and Q690 steel were 29.7 and 77.0 μm/a, respectively, after a one-month exposure to the Antarctic environment. After 12 months of exposure, the corrosion rate decreased to 10.7 and 18.7 μm/a, respectively. The main corrosion products were goethite, lepidocrocite, akaganeite, and magnetite/maghemite. Over the short term, the ice and snow layer meant there were more chloride ions at the interface between the metal and the rust layer compared to warmer environments, and this resulted in more akaganeite forming within the rust layer as well as severe localized corrosion beneath the rust layer. Moreover, due to the freeze-thaw cycles of the surface ice and snow in the low temperature environment, more cracks were produced within the rust layer. After a longer period of exposure, the metal surface became covered with ice and snow. The ice and rust layer formed a barrier to dissolved oxygen and corrosive ions which inhibited the occurrence of further corrosion and resulted in a decrease in the corrosion rate and the evolution from localized corrosion to uniform corrosion.
Fund: Equipment Pre-Research Field Fund of China(80922010601);Natural Science Foundation Program of Shandong Province(ZR2022YQ44);Key Research and Development Program of Shandong Province(2020CXGC010305)
Corresponding Authors:
CUI Zhongyu, professor, Tel: 15376757157, E-mail: cuizhongyu@ouc.edu.cn
Table 1 Chemical compositions of Q460 and Q690 low alloy steels
Fig.1 Exposure site in Zhongshan station in Antarctic continent
Fig.2 OM (a, b) and SEM (c, d) images of microstructures of Q460 (a, c) and Q690 (b, d) low alloy steels
Fig.3 Variation in the corrosion rates of Q460 and Q690 low alloy steels as a function of exposure time
Fig.4 Macromorphologies of the corrosion products on skyward (a, c, e, g) and groundward (b, d, f, h) surfaces of Q460 (a, b, e, f) and Q690 (c, d, g, h) low alloy steels exposed to Antarctic atmosphere for 1 month (a-d) and 12 months (e-h)
Fig.5 Micromorphologies of corrosion products formed on Q460 (a1-a3, c1-c3) and Q690 (b1-b3, d1-d3) low alloy steels exposed to Antarctic atmosphere for 1 month (a1-a3, b1-b3) and 12 months (c1-c3, d1-d3) with different magnifications
Fig.6 Cross-sectional morphologies of Q460 (a, b) and Q690 (c, d) low alloy steels exposed to Antarctic atmosphere for 1 month (a, c) and 12 months (b, d)
Fig.7 Surface morphologies and 3D topographies of Q460 (a1-a4, c1-c4) and Q690 (b1-b4, d1-d4) low alloy steels exposed to Antarctic atmosphere for 1 month (a1-a4, b1-b4) and 12 months (c1-c4, d1-d4) (a1-d1, a2-d2) skyward (a3-d3, d4-d4) groundward
Fig.8 Distribution statistics of surface pits depth of Q460 and Q690 low alloy steels exposed to Antarctic atmosphere for 1 month
Fig.9 XRD spectra (a), proportion of each phase (b), and the protective ability (c) of the corrosion products formed on Q460 and Q690 low alloy steels (α represents α-FeOOH; γ* represents total of γ-FeOOH, β-FeOOH, and Fe3O4/γ-Fe2O3)
Fig.10 Phase distributions of the corrosion products (see in Fig.6) formed on Q460 (a) and Q690 (b) low alloy steels (A, G, L, and M represent akaganeite (β-FeOOH), goethite (α-FeOOH), lepidocrocite (γ-FeOOH), and megnetite/meghemite (Fe3O4/γ-Fe2O3), respectively)
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