The influence of alloying elements on the corrosion of Zr alloys

Density functional theory (DFT) and autoclave corrosion tests in 360 °C water were used to investigate the influence of Sb, Sc, Nb and Sn on the corrosion and hydrogen pick-up (HPU) of Zr-alloys. Sc was shown to have a strongly detrimental effect on alloy corrosion resistance. The Nb-Sb-Zr ternary alloy exhibited significantly improved corrosion resistance over Zr-Nb and ZIRLO, and had little measurable HPU after 195 days. The ratio of Sb′Zr/SbZr
- was shown to transition smoothly with applied space charge, implying Sb can act as a buffer to charge imbalance in the oxide layer.