Investigation of the compatibility of tungsten and high temperature sodium

The compatibility of rotary swaged tungsten and sodium was investigated at 500, 600, 700 °C, and also at 600 °C of polished tungsten. The weight loss curves for the two kinds of W-specimens appear significantly different, however their weight losses approach constant values after testing for 400 h. The asymptotic change in sodium containing 30 μg/g oxygen at 600 °C are about 2.3 and 0.8 mg/cm2 from 400 to 1500 h, respectively for the rotary swaging tungsten and the polishing tungsten. The corrosion products at the surfaces of two kinds of W-specimens after testing in high temperature sodium are different. The grains show significant growth after testing of both kinds of tungsten. The fracture stress of the rotary swaged tungsten at room temperature decreases considerably after testing with the effect slightly increasing with temperature from 500, 600 to 700 °C. A much smaller decrease of fracture stress is observed for polished tungsten at 600 °C, which already before testing has much smaller value. The micro-morphologies of the fracture surface indicate brittle inter-granular fracture in both kinds of tungsten. Embrittlement becomes much more notable for rotary swaged tungsten, while inter- and trans-granular fracture modes appear after corrosion tests in high temperature sodium for both kinds of tungsten.