ABSTRACT
As a part of a joint European Project arranged by the EFC Working Party on Marine Corrosion, crevice corrosion exposure tests were made at a number of European corrosion test sites in order to evaluate the difference in corrosivity. Test specimens with crevice formers of three stainless steels, UNS S31600, N08904 and S31254, were exposed to natural sea water for a period of six months. Initiation of crevice corrosion was monitored as a sharp drop in the continuously recorded free corrosion potential. After the exposure the specimens were inspected and the amount of crevice corrosion asssessed. The exposure was made during two periods representing the summer and winter situations. The results show that for sites where corrosion occurs on UNS S31600 initiation often occurs within a few days. Also N08904 suffers crevice corrosion whereas S31254 was resistant at all sites. The test results could not be related to the variations in the physico-chemical properties of the sea water at the test sites although the influence of the higher temperatures during the summer period could be seen.
