Corrosion Testing of CrN_x-Coated 310 H Stainless Steel under Simulated Supercritical Water Conditions

The paper’s aim is the assessment of corrosion behaviour of a CrNx-coated 310 H stainless steel under simulated supercritical water conditions (550 °C and 25 MPa) for up to 2160 h. The CrNx coating was obtained by the thermionic vacuum arc (TVA) method. The oxides grown on this coating were characterized using metallographic and gravimetric analysis, SEM with EDS, and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD). A diffusion mechanism drives oxidation kinetics because it follows a parabolic law. By XRD analysis, the presence of Cr2O3 and Fe3O4 on the surface of the autoclaved CrNx-coated 310 H samples were highlighted. Corrosion susceptibility assessment was performed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and linear potentiodynamic polarization. EIS impedance spectra show the presence of two capacitive semicircles in the Nyquist diagram, highlighting both the presence of the CrNx coating and the oxide film formed during autoclaving on the 310 H stainless steel. Very low corrosion rates, with values up to 11 nm × year−1, obtained in the case of autoclaved for 2160 h, CrNx-coated samples indicated that the oxides formed on these samples are protective and provide better corrosion resistance. The determination of micro hardness Vickers completed the above investigation