Effect of ascorbic acid on the pitting resistance of 316L stainless steel in synthetic tap water

This study examined the effect of L-ascorbic acid (A.A) concentration on the pitting corrosion properties of 316L stainless steel (316L STS) of heat exchanger in synthetic tap water containing 400 ppm of Cl- ion. The pitting corrosion of 316L STS can be effectively inhibited by the 10^-4 M of A.A concentration. In this condition, the adsorption of A.A reinforced the passive film of steel by blocking the Cl^- ions at the active site. However, the passive film was deteriorated and severe pitting corrosion occurred above the 10^-4 M of A.A concentration. Above the 10^-4 M of A.A concentration, A.A generates soluble chelate rather than absorbs on the steel surface and it causes passive film deterioration and severe pitting corrosion. The critical ratio, which is a critical ratio of surface coverage of aggressive to inhibitive ion necessary to initiate localized corrosion, calculated 2.93 up to the 10^-4 M. It has approximately 2.93:1 ratio of the coverage of local Cl^- ions to A.A. Above the critical ratio, the pitting corrosion will occur with degradation of the passive film. On the other hands, above the 10^-4 M A.A concentration caused a negative effect because the heat energy for adsorption is increased.