Effects of Radiation-Induced Defects on Corrosion

Abstract

The next generation of nuclear reactors will expose materials to conditions that, in some cases, are even more extreme than those in current fission reactors, inevitably leading to new materials science challenges. Radiation-induced damage and corrosion are two key phenomena that must be understood both independently and synergistically, but their interactions are often convoluted. In the light water reactor community, a tremendous amount of work has been done to illuminate irradiation-corrosion effects, and similar efforts are under way for heavy liquid metal and molten salt environments. While certain effects, such as radiolysis and irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking, are reasonably well established, the basic science of how irradiation-induced defects in the base material and the corrosion layer influence the corrosion process still presents many unanswered questions. In this review, we summarize the work that has been done to understand these coupled extremes, highlight the complex nature of this problem, and identify key knowledge gaps. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Materials Science, Volume 51 is August 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

A Framework for the Relationships between Stability and Functional Properties of Electrochemical Energy Materials

“…As such, even though there is still much work needed to establish such relationships in the electrochemical environment, controlled electrochemical surface diffusion might be used toward arriving/restoring specific active centers. The degradation of materials employed in nuclear reactor applications brings one additional mechanism responsible for changes to material composition through the transmutation of elements in the original material . Even though such an event might be rare or just nonexistent in a fuel cell, electrolyzer, or battery technologies, it represents a special case beyond additive or subtractive processes that does play an important role in the corrosion resistance of materials used in nuclear applications and thus should be included for completeness.…”

“…The degradation of materials employed in nuclear reactor applications brings one additional mechanism responsible for changes to material composition through the transmutation of elements in the original material. 51 Even though such an event might be rare or just nonexistent in a fuel cell, electrolyzer, or battery technologies, it represents a special case beyond additive or subtractive processes that does play an important role in the corrosion resistance of materials used in nuclear applications and thus should be included for completeness. Lastly, chemical and/or electrochemical decomposition of species present in the electrolyte also deserves attention, as it is not easily compartmentalized under additive or subtractive type of events.…”

Dose rate dependent cation & anion radiation enhanced diffusion in hematite

“…3 However, the impact of irradiation on corrosion is much less studied. 4 It is known that materials exposed to aqueous solutions or heavy liquid metals develop a protective duplex oxide structure, while contact with oxygen-free molten salts does not lead to protective surface layers, but in all cases corrosion alters the base metal by depleting one or more alloying elements. 4 To understand how irradiation alters alloy corrosion, there is a fundamental and critical need to develop predictive models informed by direct measurement of how radiation changes mass transport mechanisms and kinetics through oxide films.…”

Adatom-Driven Oxygen Intermixing during the Deposition of Oxide Thin Films by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

“…It is critical to understand the interlayer diffusion and intermixing processes occurring during thin film deposition to tailor the atomically precise deposition of functional materials and heterostructures. More broadly, surface-mediated intermixing and atom exchange processes can play a significant role in heterogeneous catalysis and corrosion, , such that understanding the chemical driving forces for these processes is key to designing next-generation materials with desired properties. Recent modeling efforts have begun to address this challenge.…”