The effects of cold working on the corrosion behavior of an austenitic stainless steel in liquid lead-bismuth eutectic under vacuum at 873 K

The effects of cold working (CW) on the corrosion of CN1515 austenitic stainless steel in a static liquid lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) under vacuum at 873 K for 1000-3000 h were investigated. The inward penetration of LBE into the sample and the associated outward dissolution of Ni and Cr resulted in the formation of a ferrite layer in the surface of samples. The thickness of the ferrite layer of the CW samples is larger than that of the solution annealed (SA) samples. The ferrite grains maintains a {011} α//{111} γ, <111> α//<110> γ relationship with the original austenitic grains. Slip bands in FCC grains act as preferential penetration paths of LBE and result in the larger thickness of the ferrite layer of CW samples over SA samples.