Long-term marine immersion corrosion of welded ABS grade steels

Welded Joints long-term integrity is of particular importance to large vessels, such as frigates or bulk carriers. Downtime due to corrosion concerns can be onerous. Ship classification organisations, such as The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), standardises processes and product approval programmes for materials manufacturers. High-strength steels are of particular interest due to their high strength to cost ratio for large marine vessel construction. The corrosion performance of such steels has been studied, but data on the specific degradation of such metals when welded and for the welds themselves are scarce. The present paper reports marine immersion corrosion pit depth data for several ABS steel grade weld permutations and exposed to different sites for up to 2.5 years. The implications of the presented results are discussed as well as the possible influence of alloying elements and microstructural differences on the underlying corrosion kinetics.