Stress corrosion and mechanical properties of zinc coating on 304 stainless steel

Abstract

Abstract The effect of stress corrosion on the mechanical properties of the coating in the zinc coating/304 stainless steel substrate system was investigated by three-point bending, slow strain rate tensile (SSRT) and nano-indentation tests. Studies have shown that fracture toughness was improved when the coating was thick but weakened when the coating was thin. At varied coating thicknesses (80 μm, 160 μm, 240 μm, 320 μm, 400 μm), the decline rates of the fracture toughness were 77.48 %, 71.82 %, 66.67 %, 55.48 % and 51.52 %, respectively, and those for the critical strain of crack initiation were 94.97 %, 91.88 %, 88.42 %, 76.19 % and 74.33 %, respectively. In addition, simulations were made to analyze the crack propagation of zinc coating in coating/substrate system under tensile loading by ABAQUS, which proved the accuracy of the experiment.