Duplex stainless steels (DSS) are corrosion resistant alloys largely used in chemical and petrochemical industries. Some commercial DSS contain 0.5-1.0% copper addition to improve the corrosion resistance by reducing the corrosion rate in non-oxidizing environments. Higher copper addition (≥ 2%) can also hard by precipitation, especially when fine copper precipitates (ε phase) are produced. In this work, a cast copper alloyed DSS type ASTM A890 grade 1B with 3.01%Cu was investigated. Different levels of hardness were produced by solution treatment and aging at 450, 500, 550 and 600 oC for periods of time up to 1 hour. The corrosion resistance of aged DSS was evaluated by electrochemical tests in three media: 0.6 mol/L NaCl, 0.3 mol/L H2SO4 and 0.6 mol/L NaCl + 0.3 mol/L H2SO4 solutions. The results indicate that the effect of Cu addition depends on the media studied. Polarization studies in 0.6 mol/L NaCl showed a small anodic current peak occurred at around 400 mV vs. Ag/AgCl, with a strong influence on the passive film stability. Additionally, chronoamperometric measurements at 400 mV vs. Ag/AgCl showed a high electrochemical activity for the samples in 0.6 mol/L NaCl.

Heat treatment can modify the corrosion resistance of stainless steels. Thus, the corrosion behavior of ASTM A890/A 890M GR 5A super duplex stainless steels (SDSS) has been investigated in aqueous 60,000 ppm NaCl solution by several electrochemical tests. The specimens were aged for 2, 10, 50 and 100 hours at 475 ºC. Potentiodynamic polarization studies showed that, when the corrosion potential comes to the passivation state, a peak current is detected at about 400 mV vs. Ag/AgCl, with a strong influence on the film stability. The peak current value increased with the aging time; the highest peak value was for the sample aged for 100 h. Three potentials were chosen from the polarization curves in order to evaluate the sample/film/solution behavior and their changes over the passivation range. The results indicate that the passive film was degraded with the increase of the aging time. In addition, the results of the corrosion tests were compared with the evolution of the mechanical properties of the steels by the Vickers microhardness test.