Relationship between hydrogen-induced phase transformations and pitting nucleation sites in duplex stainless steel

Abstract

Abstract This paper demonstrates the hydrogen-induced phase transformation and the associated pitting nucleation sites of 2507 duplex stainless steel using scanning Kelvin probe force microscopy and magnetic force microscopy. The low potential sites in Volta potential images, which are considered as the pitting nucleation sites, are strongly dependent on the hydrogen-induced phase transformation. They firstly initiate on the magnetic martensite laths in the austenite phase or at the ferrite/austenite boundaries, and then appear near the needle-shaped microtwins in the ferrite phase, because of the difference in physicochemical properties of hydrogen-induced phase transformation microstructures.