On the in-situ characterisation of metastable pitting using 316L stainless steel as a case study

Abstract

Metastable pitting upon 316L stainless steel was studied herein. The combination of electrochemical testing, in-situ imaging and ex-situ characterisation was carried out to address the following questions: Does each metastable pit site correspond to a single current transient or do multiple metastable pits occur at the same site? Is each recorded current transient a unique individual metastable pitting event? Does the calculated metal loss from electrochemical testing reconcile to physical damage? The results herein respond to these questions, and additionally, a user tool for analysis of metastable pitting is also presented herein. Show more