A Microelectrochemical System for in Situ High-Resolution Optical Microscopy: Morphological Characteristics of Pitting at MnS Inclusion in Stainless Steel

A microelectrochemical system for in situ high-resolution optical microscopy was fabricated and applied to the real-time observation of pit initiation at MnS inclusion in type 304 stainless steel in NaCl solutions. It was directly observed that the metastable and stable pits were initiated at the MnS/steel boundaries, and that deep trenches were generated at these boundaries during anodic polarization. The initial rounded form of metastable and stable pits became polygonal in shape within 1 s. After that, the dissolution proceeded in the depth direction with no change in the appearance of the pit as observed externally. In the case of the metastable pitting, the duration of this stage was ca. 1.5 s, and then the pit repassivated, and the polygonal metastable pit remained on the electrode surface. The in-depth growth stage for stable pitting was relatively longer (ca. 3.5 s), and the pit grew deeply into the steel matrix and wrapped beneath the inclusion, leading to the formation of a large occluded cavity, in which the corrosivity considerably exceeded the critical conditions for autocatalytic pit growth. Chloride ions were shown to increase the probability of metastable pit initiation and affected the surface and cross-sectional morphology of stable pits.