Liquid-metal corrosion static tests

In general, it is fair to state that one of the major difficulties in interpreting, and consequently in establishing definitive tests of, corrosion phenomena in fused metal or salt environments is the large influence of very small, and therefore not easily controlled, variations in solubility, impurity concentration, temperature gradient, etc. . For example, the solubility of iron in liquid mercury is of the order of 5 x 10 at 649°C, and static tests show iron and steel to be practically unaltered by exposure to mercury. Nevertheless, in mercury boiler service, severe operating difficulties were encountered owing to the mass transfer of iron from the hot to the cold portions of the unit. Another minute variation was found substantially to alleviate the problem the presence of 10 ppm of titanium in the mercury reduced the rate of attack to an inappreciable value at 650°C as little as 1 ppm of titanium was similarly effective at 454°C . 

Static test results may be evaluated by measurement of change of mass or section thickness, but metallographic and X-ray examination to determine the nature and extent of attack are of greater value because difficulty can be encountered in removing adherent layers of solidified corrodent from the surface of the specimen on completion of the exposure, particularly where irregular attack has occurred. Changes in the corrodent, ascertained by chemical analysis, are often of considerable value also. In view of the low solubility of many construction materials in liquid metals and salts, changes in mass or section thickness should be evaluated cautiously. A limited volume of liquid metal could become saturated early in the test and the reaction would thus be stifled when only a small corrosion loss... 

The corrosion resistance of various metals and alloys in high-temperature liquid lithium is shown in Figure 11. Unfortunately, lithium is much more corrosive than sodium. Consequently, it will be impossible to take full advantage of its many attractive heat-transfer properties until a satisfactory container material is found. The most corrosion-resistant pure metals in a static isothermal system are molybdenum, niobium, tantalum, tungsten, and iron. Of the commercially available structural materials, no alloys tested to date have had satisfacto corrosion resistance at a temperature above 1400 F. for extended time periods in systems where temperature differentials exist. Even though iron has good resistance in static isothermal lithium, iron and iron-base alloys suffer from mass trans-... 

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