A Review of the Surface Modifications for Corrosion Mitigation of Steels in Lead and LBE

Abstract

The review paper starts with the applications of liquid metals and then concentrates on lead and lead–bismuth eutectic used in Gen IV nuclear reactors and accelerator-driven systems. Key points of degradation modes of austenitic stainless steels and ferritic-martensitic steels, candidates for the structural components, are briefly summarized. Corrosion and liquid metal embrittlement are critical issues that must be overcome. Next, the paper focuses on the strong efforts paid to the mitigation of corrosion and reviews the different solutions proposed for the protection of steels in lead and lead–bismuth eutectic. There exist promising solutions based on protection by deposition of protective coatings or protection by “natural” oxidation resulting from optimized chemical composition of the steels. However, the solutions have to be confirmed especially by longer-term experiments and by additional mechanical testing.

Environmental degradation of structural materials in liquid lead- and lead-bismuth eutectic-cooled reactors

“…Ceramic candidate coating materials include oxides, carbides, nitrides, etc. [243,596,626,633,634,[640][641][642][643][644]. Oxides, such as ZrO The main problem of ceramic coatings is the lack of damage self-healing in service.…”

Experimental investigations on the design of a dual-media thermal energy storage with liquid metal

“…LBE is corrosive, particularly at high temperatures [16,17], limiting the maximum temperature it can be used in various housing materials. Ongoing research promises new corrosion-resistant structural materials so that LBE can be used as HTF at temperatures above about 550 • C [18,19].…”

Mechanical behavior in liquid lead of Al2O3 coated 15-15Ti steel and an Alumina-Forming Austenitic steel designed to mitigate their corrosion

“…To mitigate corrosion of the steels in liquid lead or in liquid LBE, different solutions have been proposed and reviewed [28]. Because of its stability whatever the oxygen content in the liquid lead and lead-bismuth eutectic, one of the most promising solutions seems to be the presence of a layer of alumina on the surface of the steel [1].…”