Analysis on liquid metal corrosion–oxidation interactions

The interaction between growing surface oxides and flowing liquid metals is of importance in many high temperature applications such as coolant systems using liquid lead or lead bismuth eutectic (LBE) in advanced nuclear energy systems. The impact of flow can manifest through particle erosion, mass transfer corrosion, stress scrape, etc. In the present study, we consider the continuous flow-induced corrosion by dissolution of steel components or dissociation of surface oxides. In oxygen controlled liquid lead or LBE systems, steels exposed to the liquid metals are subject to both oxidation and flow-induced corrosion. It is necessary and important to understand the corrosion–oxidation interactions for selecting structural materials and optimizing operating conditions. A comprehensive theoretical analysis of the key corrosion–oxidation interactions is presented here. Possible corrosion–oxidation mechanisms are considered and the corrosion–oxidation interactions are classified into different regimes. In each regime, a theoretical model is given. Based on the analysis, corrosion–oxidation maps are developed for selecting and optimizing the operation conditions for liquid lead–alloy systems.