Tribocorrosion Behaviour of SUS430 Stainless Steel in Aqueous Solutions with Different pH

To reveal the influence of passive film on the tribocorrosion behaviour of stainless steel, SUS430 was loaded at 2.0 N or 10.0 N in aqueous solutions with various pH from 1.0 to 10.0. The pure wear behaviour was investigated in the air for comparison. The polarization behaviour, the morphology of the worn or tribocorroded surface, and the depth profiles of the formed groove were measured to discuss the mechanism. The passive state was confirmed at pH = 7.0 and 10.0, but vanished at pH = 1.0 and 2.0. The pure wear in air depended on the applied loads, rather than the sliding time. On the other hand, the tribocorrosion in deionised water was much smaller than the pure wear in air. Under a load of 2.0 N, the tribocorrosion at pH = 1.0 was weaker than pH = 2.0. However, the situation reversed when increasing the load to 10.0 N. The tribocorrosion in neutral and alkaline solutions is considerably smaller than in acid solutions.