Corrosion study of stainless steel SS304L in molten molybdates

Depending on operating conditions of the vitrification process of high-level liquid waste, molten salt mainly composed of sodium and molybdenum can be generated, and poured into stainless steel canisters. In this work, the possible reaction between the molten molybdate and stainless steel was investigated using multi-component molybdate and simple Na2MoO4 - MoO3 molybdate. In the experiments using multi-component molybdates, no significant reaction is observed between the mixed molybdates and the stainless steel specimens at 700 °C in 4 h. The reaction rate of the stainless steel with the multi-component molybdate increases in proportion to exp(-1/T). The depth of the most reacted area is about 300 μm even at 1000 °C, and was much smaller than the 6 mm thickness of the canister. In the simple Na2MoO4 - MoO3 molybdate, the reaction rate was proportional to the MoO3 concentration. The essence of the reaction is oxidation of metals by Mo6+ - > Mo4+. Part of the reaction product mainly composed of Fe is dissolved into the molybdate, while the other part mainly composed of Cr sloughs and forms a banded layer.