During fabrication of equipment or components of alloys, surface contamination by iron can occur at any of the fabrication stages by various means. Is surface iron contamination detrimental to the corrosion resistance of alloys? If it is not, considerable time and money could be saved by not removing the iron after fabrication. The principle application in mind during this work was flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems. Laboratory corrosion tests were conducted in the vapor zone of acid-chloride-gas mixtures, simulating the environment in FGD systems. The literature was reviewed. The test results show, as most of the literature suggests, iron on the surface of stainless steels can accelerate corrosion. The literature has little to say about nickel-base alloys. The test results for the nickel-base alloy of this study indicate iron removal after
fabrication is unnecessary. Keywords: Iron contamination, pitting, FGD, Ni-Cr-Mo alloy, 6Mo stainless steel, 3 16 stainless steel.