Different Effects of the Materials of Rubber Gasket on the Crevice Corrosion of Stainless Steel Metal

Abstract

In the industrial equipments for beverage and food, the functional parts made by austenitic stainless steel are widely used in combination with other types of materials in order to fulfill the requirement of resistance to corrosion. The pitting and/or crevice corrosions are tending to observed when the parts are contacted with the corrosible beverage and food. The crevice corrosion was also frequently observed when the parts are attached with the gaskets in the industrial equipments. Moreover, seriousness of crevice corrosion was changed depending on the kinds of materials of gasket in the industrial plants. However, there has been few report studied about the effect of the rubber materials of gasket on the crevice corrosion of stainless steel. Thus in the present report, the relationship between the crevice corrosion of stainless steel and the rubber materials used for gasket was investigated under the influence of aqueous acids which are included in the refreshing beverages, because most of the refreshing beverage are acidic. Since ascorbic acid has been widely used as a sour agent of refreshing beverage, the present report focused on the corrosion behavior of this type of non-oxidative acids.