Abstract
To limit corrosion of the steels in contact with liquid metal (Pb or Pb-Bi), both different solutions based on the presence of alumina at the surface of the steels were selected: 2 Alumina-Forming Austenitic (AFA) steels and the 15-15 Ti steel coated by alumina layer. These technical options to mitigate corrosion by lead or Pb-Bi were investigated in terms of mechanical performances in liquid lead or liquid Pb-Bi. So the liquid metal embrittlement (LME) sensitivity of the different materials selected for their good corrosion resistance was evaluated by tensile tests or small punch tests carried out in presence of liquid metal, and by post-mortem analysis of the cracking and of the fracture surfaces. No LME sensitivity for the tested conditions has been observed for the Al2O3 coated 15-15Ti steel and for the two AFA steels (16Ni-14Cr-2.5Al-2.5Mn-1Nb), one without and one with 2% wt.% W and 0.02% wt.% Y in their as received state. But a 650 °C thermal aging promotes modifications of the microstructure specially precipitations and then LME sensitivity of the AFA steels, according the nature of the precipitation.
Highlights
The corrosion resistance and the mechanical behaviour assessment of structural alloys is crucial for the durability and the safety of the Lead cooled Fast Reactor (LFR) and Accelerated Driven Systems (ADS) for which the structural materials are in contact with liquid lead or liquid lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE)
If no liquid metal embrittlement (LME) sensitivity is observed, the steel coated with Al2O3 does not appear as an optimal option in regards with the mechanical properties which seem in some conditions to be modified not by the presence of the liquid metal or of the Al2O3 coating but by the microstructural evolutions generated during the coating elaboration
Technical options to mitigate corrosion by lead or LBE were investigated in terms of mechanical performances in liquid lead or liquid LBE
Summary
The corrosion resistance and the mechanical behaviour assessment of structural alloys (steels) is crucial for the durability and the safety of the Lead cooled Fast Reactor (LFR) and Accelerated Driven Systems (ADS) for which the structural materials are in contact with liquid lead or liquid lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE). The presence of liquid lead or LBE promotes for the steels different types of corrosion according to the oxygen content in the liquid metal: 1. The oxygen level in the liquid metal being low to avoid the formation of oxides and plugging, to solve corrosion damage by liquid metal, the presence of a protective layer at the surface of the steels has been proposed because it aims at avoiding. The presented work concerns the mechanical behaviour in liquid LBE or liquid lead of steels which have been modified for corrosion mitigation in liquid metal It aims at evaluating if the corrosion mitigation techniques impact the susceptibility of three steels to LME: an Al2O3 coated 15-15Ti steel and two Alumina-Forming Austenitic (AFA) steels. Different parameters known to impact the LME sensitivity have been considered: the temperature, the strain rate, a thermal aging
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