Corrosion in boiling nitric acid was investigated for high purity Fe-18%Cr-12%Ni alloys and type 304L stainless steels (SS). Owing to very low impurity concentration, the solution treated high purity alloys show almost no intergranular corrosion while the type 304L SS show severe intergranular corrosion. Both in the high purity alloys and type 304L SS, aging treatments ranging from 873 K to 1073 K for 1 h enhance intergranularcorrosion. During the aging treatments, impurities should
be segregated to the grain boundaries. The corrosion behaviors were discussed from a standpoint of impurity segregation to grain boundaries.
Keywords: austenitic high purity alloy, nitric acid, intergranular corrosion, phosphorus segregation, segregation energy