1990 Volume 76 Issue 9 Pages 1552-1558
The effect of cathodic protection on the fretting fatigue of high strength steels in synthetic seawater was studied. The fretting fatigue life in seawater under freely corroding condition was much shorter than that in air. Using cathodic protection, the fretting fatigue life in seawater was greatly increased, and became longer than that in air, and the lower the frequency, the longer the life. The improvement in fretting fatigue life by cathodic protection resulted mainly from the increase in crack propagation life not influenced by fretting. This increase was probably caused by crack closure effect of calcareous deposits produced under the cathodic potential employed. In stainless steel used to compare with the high strength steels, the fretting fatigue life in seawater under freely corroding condition was almost the same as that in air.
