Comparative study in chemistry of microbially and electrochemically induced pitting of 316L stainless steel

Ennoblement of stainless steel (SS) by microbially deposited manganese oxides can lead to pitting corrosion at low chloride concentrations, causing unexpected material failures. We exposed 316L SS to manganese oxidizing bacteria Leptothrix discophora under well-defined laboratory conditions, and then placed the ennobled coupons in a 0.5 M sodium chloride solution until pitting developed. Using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy we demonstrated that the pits and their immediate vicinity associated with microbial influenced corrosion had different chemical signatures than those associated with electrochemically induced pitting, suggesting a possibility that the microorganisms were directly involved in pit initiation. Based on the differences in the chemical signatures we were able to distinguish the microbially induced pits from those induced by anodic polarization.