| Abstract | AISI 304 stainless steel is widely used in industry for numerous applications requiring corrosion resistance. Despite its good corrosion resistance, the steel is prone to sensitization by heating, which significiantly reduces its resistance to localized corrosion, especially intergranular corrosion. In this study, a thin layer of sensitized AISI 304 stainless steel surface was melted using a CW C02 laser, to study the effect of laser surface melting on its corrosion resistance. Laser surface melting produced a thin protective surface layer with extremely fine microstructure, homogenous distribution of alloying elements and clean microstructure boundaries, which contributes to the desensitization of stainless steel and enhances its resistance to pitting and intergranular corrosion as well as general corrosion. The laser-melted layer also showed resistance to the sensitization and deterioration of the enhanced corrosion resistance when subjected to post heating. |
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