Behavior of laser welded steel in chloride solution studied using difference imaging

In situ imaging techniques in conjunction with electrochemical measurements were used to study the behavior of steel surfaces in simple chloride solutions. The imaging method detected the presence of significantly thicker uniform layers than the original passive oxide. The layers were found to form in chloride after the steel was anodically polarized following reduction of the passive oxide film. The growth of the layer depended on the degree of prior passive oxide reduction. Formation of the layer was also sensitive to underlying structure and enabled rapid location of regions of higher corrosion rate across laser welds in steels.