Redox behavior of chromium on the corrosion of austenitic stainless steel (R-SUS304ULC) in 8 M nitric acid solution

We investigated the relationship between the corrosion of austenitic stainless steel (R-SUS304ULC) and the redox behavior of chromium in nitric acid solution under three conditions - boiling at atmospheric pressure, boiling at reduced pressure, and non-boiling - to evaluate the effects of the boiling phenomenon. In the Cr(III) oxidation rate measurement, about 20% of the Cr(III) was oxidized to Cr(VI) under atmospheric-pressure boiling at 384 K after 168 h. Under non-boiling conditions at 373 K, Cr(VI) was not observed. However, about 3% of Cr(III) oxidation was observed at 373 K with reduced-pressure boiling. Thermodynamic calculations showed that the abundance of Cr(VI) in boiling nitric acid was increased over that in non-boiling nitric acid, even at the same temperature. These results show that Cr(III) is more likely to oxidize under boiling conditions than non-boiling conditions. On the other hand, in the corrosion tests, we found that the apparent reduction rate of Cr(VI) as a result of corrosion of R-SUS304ULC was more than 10 times greater than the Cr(III) oxidation rate. Therefore, the corrosion of R-SUS304ULC appears to be dominated by the rate of Cr(VI) reduction in nitric acid solution regardless of the boiling or non-boiling conditions.