Abstract
Tantalum and Niobium have good corrosion resistance in nitric acid as well as in molten chloride salt medium encountered in spent fuel nuclear reprocessing plants. Commercially, pure Ti (Cp-Ti) exhibits good corrosion resistance in nitric acid medium; however, in vapor condensates of nitric acid, significant corrosion was observed. In the present study, a thermochemical diffusion method was pursued to coat Ta2O5, Nb2O5, and Ta2O5 + Nb2O5 on Ti to improve the corrosion resistance and enhance the life of critical components in reprocessing plants. The coated samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDX, profilometry, micro-scratch test, and ASTM A262 Practice-C test in 65 pct boiling nitric acid. The SEM micrograph of the coated samples showed that uniform dense coating containing Ta2O5 and/or Nb2O5 was formed. XRD patterns indicated the formation of TiO2, Ta2O5/Nb2O5, and mixed oxide/solid solution phase on coated Ti samples. ASTM A262 Practice-C test revealed reproducible outstanding corrosion resistance of Ta2O5-coated sample in comparison to Nb2O5- and Ta2O5 + Nb2O5-coated sample. The hardness of the Ta2O5-coated Cp-Ti sample was found to be twice that of uncoated Cp-Ti. The SEM and XRD results confirmed the presence of protective oxide layer (Ta2O5, rutile TiO2, and mixed phase) on coated sample which improved the corrosion resistance remarkably in boiling liquid phase of nitric acid compared to uncoated Cp-Ti and Ti-5Ta-1.8Nb alloy. Three phase corrosion test conducted on Ta2O5-coated samples in boiling 11.5 M nitric acid showed poor corrosion resistance in vapor and condensate phases of nitric acid due to poor adhesion of the coating. The adhesive strength of the coated samples needs to be optimized in order to improve the corrosion resistance in vapor and condensate phases of nitric acid.
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