The ennoblement of stainless steels in seawater: a likely explanation coming from the field

The corrosion behaviour of stainless steel in marine environments is heavily affected by the biofilm settlement on its surfaces. Cathodic reaction kinetics is modified by the biological layer through a depolarization effect of unknown origin. Many possible mechanisms have been proposed in literature...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Corrosion science 1998-06, Vol.40 (6), p.1007-1018
Main Authors: Scotto, V, Lai, M.E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
A stainless steels
Applied sciences
Biodeterioration. Biofouling
Biofilms
Biological and medical sciences
Biotechnology
C marine corrosion
Corrosion
Corrosion environments
Electrolysis
Enzymes
Exact sciences and technology
Fouling
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Industrial applications and implications. Economical aspects
Metals. Metallurgy
microbialcorrosion
Stainless steel
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Summary:The corrosion behaviour of stainless steel in marine environments is heavily affected by the biofilm settlement on its surfaces. Cathodic reaction kinetics is modified by the biological layer through a depolarization effect of unknown origin. Many possible mechanisms have been proposed in literature to explain this phenomenum but none of them has ever received exhaustive experimental validation. This paper focuses attention on one of the proposed mechanisms which attributes biofilm action to catalytic effects coming from enzymes entrapped in the Extracellular Polymeric Sustances of biofilms. The mechanism is discussed, on the basis of the latest knowledge of the structure and composition of marine biofilms, and strongly validated by new experimental results, coming from field tests carried out at ICMM’s marine station in Genoa. The electrochemical consequences of biofilms treatment with sodium azide and glutaraldehyde (GA) are discussed and explained in conformity with the enzyme theory above mentioned.
ISSN:0010-938X
1879-0496
DOI:10.1016/S0010-938X(98)00038-9