Cast steels are chemically unstable in air-saturated water and other solutions
at ambient temperatures. Their commercial applications therefore depend on protective
mechanisms: passivation and formation of thin oxide films, prevention of passivity
breakdown, cathodic protection, coatings, control of chemical composition and
microstructure, along with their service conditions (stress, fatigue, voids and erosioncorrosion).
The corrosion of steel castings is usually considered as a problem involving
chemical (carbon content, alloying), microstructure (austenite, ferrite-austenite) and
quality (non-metallic inclusions, gases, segregation, grain size) parameters. In this
chapter, some topics concerning the manufacturing of corrosion-resistant steel castings
are considered.
Keywords: Composition, Duplex structure, Passivation, Microstructure, Types of
corrosion.
