In this paper we review the friction, wear and corrosion performance of several metallurgical coatings in sodium in the temperature range 200–650 °C. Emphasis is placed on those coatings which have successfully passed the qualification tests necessary for acceptance in breeder reactor environments. The tests included friction, wear, corrosion, thermal cycling, self-welding and irradiation exposure under service conditions which were as near as possible to those in the prototype breeder reactor. The materials tested were coatings of various refractory metal carbides in metallic binders, nickel-base and cobalt-base alloys and intermetallic compounds such as aluminides and borides. The coating processes evaluated included plasma spraying, detonation gun, sputtering, spark deposition and solid state diffusion.