Interplay between electronic properties and corrosion resistance of passive films on different stainless steel grades

Stainless steels (SSs) are a class of iron-based alloys containing different elements, such as Cr, Ni, Mo, Mn, etc.. According to European Standard, a steel can be considered stainless whether it contains “at least 10.5 % of chromium and maximum 1.2 % of carbon”. SSs have a high corrosion resistance due to the formation of a very thin (1 – 3 nm) chromium oxide/hydroxide-rich passive film, whose composition, thickness, and protective action can change with time and with environment to which the steel is exposed.
The aim of this work is to study the composition and the electronic properties of passive films on austenitic SS in model aqueous solution as a function of the pH, as well as in electrolytes mimicking real processing fluids typical of food and pharmaceutical industry.

Monica Santamaria was born in 1973 in Licata (Italy). She held a MSc. in Chemical Engineering at Università di Palermo (1997) and a PhD (2001) in Electrochemical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano. In 2010 she became full professor of Applied Electrochemistry at Department of engineering of University of Palermo where she runs an electrochemistry group with currently 15 researchers and PhD students.