Abstract
The atmospheric corrosion of weathering steels varies as a function of geographic zone, season, and other environmental variables related to that region which the experiments have been done. Meanwhile, rusting is a continuous process, and it is the main corrosion product of atmospheric corrosion. The current study investigates the effects of rust on weathering steel in the localized region of Digha, a sea resort of West Bengal, India. The investigations have been performed by purposely accelerating the rusting of weathering steel in a laboratory within one week in order to simulate approximately 18 months of actual rusting that can be achieved at field exposure. Anodic polarization of weathering steel comparable to potentiostatic passivation is obtained by shorting weathering steel with nobler metals, such as copper or graphite. The effect of rust formation on corrosion resistance after being immersed in 0.01 M KCl solutions for polished and unpolished samples has been investigated using electrochemical techniques, such as potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The rusted surfaces' morphology and composition were characterized using field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). Based on the obtained results, it is concluded that the progressive rusting of weathering steel leads to a decrease in corrosion rate.