13 % Cr stainless steels may suffer from sulphide stress corrosion cracking in sour environments if hydrogen enters the material. Hydrogen evolution is caused by the cathodic reaction in the corrosion process. As distinct from solutions without buffer, buffered solutions keep the pH stable at the surface almost independent of the electrochemical
reactions. The most common initiation process for corrosion of stainless steels is break-down of the passive oxide by subsequent local acidification, which to a certain extent can be prevented in buffered solutions. For local corrosion the risk of corrosion therefore is higher in
solutions without buffer than in buffered solutions at the same bulk pH. Hydrogen evolution may also be caused by general corrosion. For this type of corrosion the effect of buffer in the solution may be, contrary to the effect for local corrosion, that general corrosion of 13 Cr (with risk for cracking of loaded specimens) is more readily initiated in buffered solutions than in solutions without buffer at the same pH. With respect to corrosion on ground alloyed 13 Cr base material by coupling to carbon steel, it is shown that gen;ral corrosion initiates both in strongly and moderately without buffer at pH 3.5.
Keywords: Alloyed 13 Chromium steels, corrosion, simulated condensed water. welds, buffer, CO2/H2S buffered solutions, but not in solution
gas mixture, active corrosion, galvanic