COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF STEEL CORROSION RESISTANCE

The objective of the study was to conduct the comparative analysis of steel types corrosion resistance. Three selected steel types were used in the study. The selected types were structural steel, stainless steel, and MMFX steel. The methodology we adopted is that we evaluated the steel parts resistance towards corrosion by doing in-salt spray experiment and the immersion of aqueous solution of sodium chloride. For salt spray test, we used guidelines by ASTM B117. This practice provides a controlled corrosion environment which is used for exposing specimen to salt spray chamber. For immersion test, test specimens are analyzed at regular time interval as the first rust is appeared. For carbon steel, we used three specimen and mostly initial rust appeared in initial 13 to 15 hours. For stainless steel, inter granular corrosion were analyzed. The results show that the first cycle started after about 46 hours; the second cycle started about 1% and the third cycle started with the rage of about 2 to 30%. For MMFX 2 steel, the results show that for MMFX carbon steel, the chloride threshold ratio is about 6 times higher than black bars and more than double of other types. The conclusion of the study is that in big structures like bridges, the MMFX steel should be used.