Corrosion of 316L in Liquid Tellurium at 551°C

L. Martinelli (1) , D. J. Young (2) , S. Gossé (3) , S. Bosonnet (1)

1 CEA-DES (ex-DEN) - CEA-Direction des Energies (ex-Direction de l'Energie Nucléaire)
2 UNSW - University of New South Wales [Sydney]
3 LM2T - Laboratoire de Modélisation, Thermodynamique et Thermochimie

Grade 316L stainless steel was exposed to liquid tellurium at 551 o C. Corrosion was rapid, leading to more than 100$\mu$ m loss of steel section in 30 min. The corrosion product was a mixed telluride scale, which thickened according to parabolic kinetics whilst simultaneously dissolving at its outer surface into the liquid tellurium. A mathematical model based on diffusion-controlled scale growth coupled with dissolution at a rate controlled by liquid phase diffusion is shown to describe scaling and dissolution kinetics successfully.

Keywords: Tellurium corrosion; telluride scale; dissolution; diffusion control

Domains: Physics [physics]; Nuclear Theory [nucl-th]; Physics [physics]; Nuclear Experiment [nucl-ex]

L. Martinelli, D. J. Young, S. Gossé, S. Bosonnet. Corrosion of 316L in Liquid Tellurium at 551°C. Corrosion Science, 2019, Volume 151, pp.Pages 35-43. ⟨10.1016/j.corsci.2019.02.001⟩. ⟨cea-02484118⟩