Abstract
Stainless steel (SS) and carbon steel (CS) are susceptible to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in certain environments, which included the sea salt particles and chlorides. In addition, the TiO2 coating can act as a nonsacrificial anode and cathodically protect steel substrates under ultraviolet (UV) illumination. In this study the ITO glass was first used as testing substrate for the availability of photocatalytic behavior of Lab-made TiO2 solutions. Then the photocatalytic behavior of steels with TiO2 coating by using a sol-gel method was investigated to mitigate atmospheric SCC. Electrochemical analysis results revealed that the electrochemical corrosion potential (ECP) of the TiO2 coated on polished 304 SS markedly decreased compared with the TiO2 coated on polished CS in the presence of UV radiation. In addition, a specific oxide structure between the TiO2 and CS interface would enhance the ECP reduction under UV radiation because of the inhibition of other metal ions diffused into the TiO2 coating. In summary, the results indicated that TiO2 treatment in combination with UV radiation can effectively reduce the corrosion rate of 304SS and CS in atmospheric environments.