Corrosion, Al containing corrosion barriers and mechanical properties of steels foreseen as structural materials in liquid lead alloy cooled nuclear systems

A key problem in development of heavy liquid metal cooled nuclear energy and transmutation reactors is the corrosion of structural and fuel. Above 500 °C steels have to be protected by stable, thin oxide scales. A well understood measure is alloying of stable oxide formers into the surface. Two methods, alloying an Al layer into the steel surface using pulsed electron beams (GESA – gepulste Elektronenstrahlanlage) and coating the surface with an Al-alloy with subsequent GESA treatment are applied. In the range of 4–10 wt% Al on the surface a stable thin alumina scale is formed by Al diffusion to the surface and selective oxidation. The alumina scale grows only very slowly and prevents migration of oxygen into the steel as well as migration of steel components onto the surface. A number of corrosion experiments showed the good protective behaviour of Al scales in LBE with 10−6 wt% oxygen up to 650 °C and for exposure times up to 10,000 h. Furthermore the influence of parameters like stresses in the cladding wall, creep behaviour, different flow velocities of the LBE and changing temperatures and oxygen concentrations in LBE is discussed. This paper will provide an overview on the activities concerning Pb–PbBi corrosion and corrosion protection performed at the Institute of Pulsed Power and Microwave Technology (IHM) at the KIT.