Corrosion behavior of cold rolled steel in peracetic acid solutions

Abstract The corrosion behavior of cold rolled steel in different concentrations of peracetic acid (PAA) has been studied by electrochemical technique at 0 °C, 10 °C, 20 °C and 30 °C, respectively. Electrochemical parameters like corrosion potential, corrosion current density and corrosion rate were determined. The results show that concentrations of PAA and test temperatures can affect the corrosion rate obviously. The corrosion rate increases with increase of the concentration of PAA at each temperature, but the maximum corrosion rate appears at 20 °C at each same concentration of PAA. The characteristic chemical reactions were used to investigate the form of Fe ions dissolved in PAA solutions. It was found that the Fe3+ ions were the dominant corrosion products. A probable corrosion mechanism is presented to explain the experimental results.