Effect of Deformation Spheroidization Treatment on the Corrosion Behavior and Mechanical Properties of Pearlite Steel in Simulated Cargo Oil Tank Inner Substrate Environment

doi:10.11900/0412.1961.2024.00145

Acta Metall Sin

2025, Vol. 61

Issue (12): 1858-1872 DOI: 10.11900/0412.1961.2024.00145

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Effect of Deformation Spheroidization Treatment on the Corrosion Behavior and Mechanical Properties of Pearlite Steel in Simulated Cargo Oil Tank Inner Substrate Environment

GUO Jiaming¹^,², CHEN Nan², HE Xiaoyan², WEI Jie²(

), CHEN Huiqin¹(

), DONG Junhua²(

), KE Wei²

1 School of Materials Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
2 Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China

Cite this article:

GUO Jiaming, CHEN Nan, HE Xiaoyan, WEI Jie, CHEN Huiqin, DONG Junhua, KE Wei. Effect of Deformation Spheroidization Treatment on the Corrosion Behavior and Mechanical Properties of Pearlite Steel in Simulated Cargo Oil Tank Inner Substrate Environment. Acta Metall Sin, 2025, 61(12): 1858-1872.

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Abstract

With the rapid growth of the international crude oil shipping industry, ensuring the safety of oil tanker transportation has become a critical concern. The cargo oil tank (COT), the primary structure for storing crude oil, is particularly susceptible to corrosion, with the inner bottom plate being a key site for failure and potential oil leakage. Low-alloy corrosion-resistant steel, mandated by the International Maritime Organization as an alternative to traditional anticorrosion coatings, faces challenges in China due to insufficient corrosion resistance, limiting its long-term applicability in COTs. Enhancing the intrinsic properties of ship plate steel while minimizing costs is therefore crucial for improving its corrosion resistance and mechanical performance. In the simulated acidic Cl^- environment of a COT bottom plate, a micro-galvanic couple forms between ferrite and cementite in pearlite, with ferrite acting as the anodic phase and cementite as the cathodic phase. Over time, accumulated cementite thickens on the surface, increasing the anode/cathode area ratio and accelerating the corrosion rate due to intensified micro-galvanic effects. To mitigate this, a deformation spheroidization process was employed to refine the microstructure without additional alloying elements. By optimizing forging and heat treatment parameters, a tempered sorbitic microstructure was achieved in T8 steel. Microstructural evolution was characterized using SEM and EBSD, while mechanical properties were assessed through microhardness testing, tensile experiments, and fracture morphology analysis. Corrosion behavior before and after optimization was examined via mass loss tests, electrochemical analysis, and corrosion product characterization. The results indicate that spheroidization heat treatment enhances the strength, plasticity, and toughness of T8 steel through grain refinement, dislocation strengthening, and dispersion strengthening. The transformation of bulk layered cementite into fine-grained cementite effectively suppresses its accumulation on the surface during corrosion, mitigating the accelerating effect of micro-galvanic corrosion. Consequently, the corrosion resistance of T8 steel in the simulated COT environment was significantly improved. This study demonstrates a cost-effective approach to enhancing both the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of ship plate steel through microstructural control, offering new insights for the development of corrosion-resistant materials for cargo oil tanks.

Key words: deformation spheroidization pearlite steel fine grain strengthening micro-galvanic corrosion mechanical property corrosion resistance

Received: 08 May 2024

ZTFLH:

TG174.2

Fund: National Natural Science Foundation of China(52373232)

Corresponding Authors: WEI Jie, associate professor, Tel: 13478204310, E-mail: jwei@imr.ac.cn; CHEN Huiqin, professor, Tel: 18703417081, E-mail: chenhuiqin@tyust.edu.cn; DONG Junhua, professor, Tel: 13842056525, E-mail: jhdong@imr.ac.cn

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	GUO Jiaming
	CHEN Nan
	HE Xiaoyan
	WEI Jie
	CHEN Huiqin
	DONG Junhua
	KE Wei

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https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/10.11900/0412.1961.2024.00145 OR https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/Y2025/V61/I12/1858

Fig.1 Schematic of deformation spheroidization process

Table 1 Sample numbers of deformation spheroidization

Fig.2 Dimensional drawing of tensile sample (unit: mm)

Fig.3 OM images of T8 steel (a) and its post forging water cooling (b) and air cooling (c)

Fig.4 SEM images of the original microstructure (a) and microstructures under different cooling conditions after deformation spheroidization (b-e) of T8 steel
(b) T1# (c) T2# (d) T3# (e) T4#

Fig.5 EBSD analyses of T8 steel (a1-a4) and T1# steel (b1-b4)
(a1, b1) inverse pole figures (IPFs) (a2, b2) image quality (IQ) + grain boundary (GB) overlap maps (The blue lines and red lines denote the high angle grain boundaries (HAGBs, misorientation angle > 15°) and low angle grain boundaries (LAGBs, misorientation angle 2°-15°), respectively) (a3, b3) grain size distribution diagrams (a4, b4) kernel average misorientation (KAM) maps

Table 2 Proportions of LAGB and HAGB (f_LAGB and f_HAGB) and average grain sizes (d) of T8 steel and T1# steel

Fig.6 Engineering stress-strain curves of T8 steel and T1# steel

Table 3 Tensile mechanical properties of T8 steel and T1# steel

Fig.7 Tensile morphologies (a1, b1) and SEM images of fracture morphologies (a2, b2) of T8 steel (a1, a2) and T1# steel (b1, b2)

Fig.8 Macroscopic surface corrosion morphologies of T8 steel (a1, a2) and T1# steel (b1, b2) after immersion for 216 h before (a1, b1) and after (a2, b2) rust removal

Fig.9 XRD spectra of T8 steel (a) and T1# steel (b) before and after immersion for 216 h in simulated solution

Fig.10 SEM surface corrosion images of T8 steel after immersion for 120 h (a1, a2) and 216 h (b1, b2) before (a1, b1) and after (a2, b2) rust removal

Fig.11 SEM surface corrosion images of T1# steel after immersion for 120 h (a1, a2) and 216 h (b1, b2) before (a1, b1) and after (a2, b2) rust removal

Fig.12 SEM cross-sectional corrosion images of T8 steel (a1, a2) and T1# steel (b1, b2) after immersion for 120 h (a1, b1) and 216 h (a2, b2)

Fig.13 Annual corrosion rate (v) as a function of immersion time (t) of T8 steel and T1# steel in simulated solution

Fig.14 Potentiodynamic polarization curves of T8 steel (a) and T1# steel (b) after immersion for different time (E—potential, i—current density, SCE—saturated calomel electrode)

Fig.15 Corrosion current density (i_corr) as a function of t of T8 steel and T1# steel

Fig.16 Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results for T8 steel (a-c) and T1# steel (d-f) after immersion for different time
(a, d) Nyquist plots (Z'—real part of impedance, Z"—imaginary part of impedance) (b, e) Bode-impedance modulus plots (|Z|—impedance modulus) (c, f) Bode-phase angle plots

Fig.17 Equivalent circuit for EIS fitting of T8 steel and T1# steel(L—high frequency inductance, R_s—solution resistance, R_a—anodic reaction resistance, R_c—cathodic reaction resistance, Q_a—constant phase element of anodic reaction, Q_c—constant phase element of cathodic reaction)

t h	L 10^-7 Ω·m²	R_s Ω·cm²	Q_c-Y₀ × 10³ Ω^-1·cm^-2·S $- n c$	n_c	R_c Ω·cm²	Q_a-Y₀ × 10³ Ω^-1·cm^-2·S $- n a$	n_a	R_a Ω·cm²	χ²
24	3.862	1.640	3.135	0.3968	10.22	2.343	0.8030	12.37	1.823 × 10^-3
48	1.966	1.896	2.227	0.9383	6.55	5.125	0.5367	8.62	1.416 × 10^-4
72	3.150	1.995	1.944	0.9967	4.52	7.103	0.4695	5.89	1.886 × 10^-4
120	2.975	1.922	1.605	0.7563	3.50	8.612	0.5007	4.59	2.380 × 10^-4

Table 4 Fitting parameters of T8 steel after immersion for different time

Fig.18 R_c (a) and R_a (b) of T8 steel and T1# steel after immersion for different time

t h	L 10^-7 Ω·m²	R_s Ω·cm²	Q_c-Y₀ × 10³ Ω^-1·cm^-2·S $- n c$	n_c	R_c Ω·cm²	Q_a-Y₀ × 10³ Ω^-1·cm^-2·S $- n a$	n_a	R_a Ω·cm²	χ²
24	3.309	1.810	2.838	0.6515	11.96	2.410	0.4860	12.66	8.610 × 10^-4
48	3.512	1.795	4.619	0.7106	10.10	5.678	0.3896	11.40	1.050 × 10^-3
72	3.303	1.776	2.281	0.8669	9.20	2.476	0.5644	10.34	2.406 × 10^-4
120	4.654	1.823	3.750	0.7868	7.53	1.907	0.8952	7.37	4.262 × 10^-4

Table 5 Fitting parameters of T1# steel after immersion for different time

Fig.19 Schematics of corrosion mechanism for T8 steel (a) and T1# steel (b)

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