Corrosion kinetics of 316L stainless steel bipolar plate with chromiumcarbide coating in simulated PEMFC cathodic environment

Stainless steel with chromium carbide coating is an ideal candidate for bipolar plates. However, the coating still cannot resist the corrosion of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) environment. In this work, the corrosion kinetics of 316L stainless steel with chromium carbide is investigated in simulated PEMFC cathodic environment by combining electrochemical tests with morphology and microstructure analysis. SEM results reveal that the steel’s surface is completely coated by Cr and chromium carbide but there are pinholes in the coating. After the coated 316L stainless steel is polarized, the diffraction peak of Fe oxide is found. EIS results indicate that the capacitive resistance and the reaction resistance first slowly decrease (2–32 h) and then increase. The potentiostatic transient curve declines sharply within 2000 s and then decreases slightly. The pinholes, which exist in the coating, result in pitting corrosion. The corrosion kinetics of the coated 316L stainless steel are modeled and accords the following equation: i0 = 7.6341t−0.5, with the corrosion rate controlled by ion migration in the pinholes.