The potential of the use of salt hydrates MgCl 2 •6H 2 O (bischofite) with typical impurities of the Salar de Atacama as a thermal energy storage material was evaluated with special attention to its corrosion behavior. Bischofite behavior is compared with that of commercial salt MgCl 2 •6H 2 O. The corrosion tests were conducted with metal sheets (copper, aluminum and stainless steel) partially immersed in molten salt hydrates at a temperature of 120°C during 1500 hrs. The results showed minimum corrosion on all the immersed surfaces of all the metals. However, very sever corrosion was observed at the salt/air interface due to a known phenomenon of oxygen enhanced corrosion usually found even with water at ambient temperature. The corrosion products were determined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. For salts hydrates bischofite and MgCl 2 •6H 2 O, the results show the formation of cuprite (Cu 2 O) and hematite (Fe 2 O 3) on copper and stainless steel samples, respectively. For all cases studied in the present work, several chloride compounds were identified as corrosion products.
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