Improvement of Corrosion Resistance and Structural Change in 304 Stainless Steel by means of Ion-Mixing

Abstract

High-energy ion-beam mixing technique was applied for the surface modification of austenitic stainless steel, followed by electrochemical characterization and microstructural observation. The co-mixing of silicon and chromium resisted the passivation current to 1/1000 relative to the un-modified condition. The corrosion resistance improved remarkably. Microstructural observation revealed that the enhanced diffusion and induced amorphous structure introduced by the co-mixing of silicon and chromium, which played a very important role in the improvement of electrochemical behavior at surface.