Effect of Dissolved Oxygen Content on Tribo-Corrosion Behavior of Monel 400 Alloy in Seawater

Abstract

When serving in the marine environment, the corrosion of metals is inevitably affected by marine environmental factors, especially dissolved oxygen. This will affect the service life of metal in the marine environment. In this paper, a friction- and wear-testing machine, an electrochemical workstation, and a dissolved oxygen/temperature control system are employed to systematically study the influence of dissolved oxygen (DO) content on the tribo-corrosion characteristics of Monel 400 alloy in seawater. The results show that the DO content has a remarkable effect on the tribo-corrosion behavior of Monel 400 alloy. The corrosion of Monel 400 alloy increases with the increase in DO content, leading to the thickness of corrosion product increasing at higher DO contents. The corrosion product is mainly composed of Ni(OH)2, Cu2O, CuO, and Cu(OH)2. While the corrosion of Monel 400 alloy further affects the wear rate of the alloy, when the corrosion is inhibited, the change of DO content has no effect on the wear rate of Monel 400 alloy. In addition, the inhibition influence of corrosion on mechanical wear is found, which is attributed to the excellent lubrication performance of corrosion products.