Abstract:
Weathering steels come from steels containing Cu at the beginning of the 20th century. They are steels with low C content and increased corrosion resistance due addition (up to 3 to 5%) of elements such Cu, P, Si, Cr and Ni, that are subjected to specific climatic conditions with wet/dry cycles. Through this study, it was analysed the electrochemical behaviour of a weathering steel (steel B) exposed for 36 months in marine atmosphere, by comparison with carbon steel (steel A), using potenciodynamic polarization tests with 3.5% NaCl electrolyte and 0,5M Na2SO4 electrolyte. The patina formed in the sample of weathering steel presented a higher performance in the corrosion behaviour in relation to the sample without patina, reducing the density current in 88.54% in the NaCl solution, increasing the corrosion potential in 26.29% in the NaCl solution and increasing by 17.1% in the 0.5 M Na2SO4 solution.