JIS Pickling Electropolished 201 Stainless Steel Pipe Tubing 10M

Factors That Can Cause Stainless Steel To Corrode:Bimetallic/Galvanic Corrosion from Welding Dissimilar Stainless Steel Alloys

One basic mistake that some manufacturers may make when creating a custom steel wire or sheet metal form is that they may weld two dissimilar metals together—whether by accident or by design.

Why is this a problem? Because, when two metals with different properties are connected via a common electrolytic material (such as water or weld filler material), there may be a flow of electrical current from one material to the other. This will cause the less “noble” metal (meaning the metal that more readily accepts new electrons) to become an “anode” and start to corrode more quickly.

The speed of this corrosion will change depending on a few factors, such as the specific types of stainless steel being joined, what kind of welding filler was used, ambient temperature and humidity, and the total surface area of the metals that are in contact with one another.

The best preventative measure for bimetallic corrosion is to avoid joining two dissimilar metals permanently in the first place. A close second is to add a coating to the metals to seal them off with a coating to prevent the flow of electrons from the cathode to the anode.

It should also be noted that using a weld filler that is too dissimilar to the metals being joined can also result in galvanic corrosion at the weld site.

201 Stainless Steel Pipe Specification

Available Sizes