The primary objective of this study was to determine if iron contamination on the surface of stainless steels would influence the localized corrosion resistance of these materials. Initially, a salt spray chamber was used to demonstrate how various fabrication processes could contaminate the surface of a Type 304L (UNS #S30403) material with iron. Samples were then taken from seven different alloys of various ferritic, austenitic and duplex stainless steels, the surfaces were contaminated with iron by shot blasting and then exposed to an aggressive coastal testing site. The samples were retrieved from this site after being exposed for six months. Examination of the samples was completed to rank the localized
corrosion resistance of these various materials with respect to atmospheric corrosion in a coastal region. The influence of iron
contamination on the corrosion resistance and the benefits of cleaning these materials after fabrication and before exposure of these materials to an aggressive environment was also evaluated Keywords: Atmospheric Corrosion, Iron-Contamination, Austenitic, Ferritic and Duplex Stainless Steels, S40930, S43035, S44735, S30403, S31600, S31803, S32205 and N08367.