Corrosion of ODS steels in lead–bismuth eutectic

Oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) ferritic steels are advanced materials being developed for high temperature applications. Their properties (high temperature strength, creep resistance, corrosion/oxidation resistance) make them potentially usable for high temperature applications in liquid metal cooled systems like liquid lead–bismuth eutectic cooled reactors and spallation sources. Corrosion tests on five different ODS alloys were performed in flowing liquid lead–bismuth eutectic in the DELTA Loop at the Los Alamos National Laboratory at 535 °C for 200 h and 600 h. The tested materials were chromium alloyed ferritic/martensitic steels (12YWT, 14YWT, MA957) and Cr–Al alloyed steels (PM2000, MA956). It was shown that the Al alloyed ODS steel above 5.5 wt% Al (PM2000) is highly resistant to corrosion and oxidation in the conditions examined, and that the corrosion properties of the ODS steels depend strongly on their grain size.