Effect of Cu Content on Corrosion Resistance of a High Strength Low Alloy Weathering Steel

The effect of Cu content on corrosion resistance of a Cr containing high strength low alloy weathering steel was studied by cyclic wet-dry test,which was designed to simulate the real atmospheric corrosion.The corrosion depth,distribution of elements and phase constituents of corrosion product were characterized by SEM and XRD.Based on the experimental results,it can be found that when the Cu content is low,the formed rust scale could not prevent the substrate from further corrosion because the scale were fragile and easily stripped from the substrate surface, which is believed to result in the increase of weight loss of the steels.The weight loss due to corrosion decreased sharply with the increasing of Cu content of the steels and the formed rust scale became thinner and much compact due to the enrichment of Cu and Cr on the inner portion of the rust scale.