Determination of causes of accelerated local corrosion of austenitic steels in water supply systems

This paper concerns an inspection of a water supply system, made of AISI 304 steel, which showed signs of local corrosion at the weld. Such corrosion caused material perforation after very short periods of operation. It was revealed that steel was sensitised during the welding process. It was also proven that chromium micro-segregation occurred in the alloy leading to galvanic cell formation which initialised the process of pitting corrosion. This paper is a study of corrosion attack types due to negligence during and after the process of welding of the system.