Corrosion Behaviors of T91 Steel in Static Lead-Bismuth Eutectic

A new concept of a double tube bundle steam generator (DTBSG) system was proposed to eliminate a sodium water reaction (SWR) possibility in a sodium cooled fast reactor, fundamentally. The physicochemical and nuclear characteristics of lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) make this heavy liquid metal suitable to be used as an intermediate coolant in this system. However, heavy liquid metals, and particularly LBE, present a high corrosivity to most of the structural materials. Martensitic steel has been proposed to be used as a steam generator (SG) tube material. It's compatibility with LBE in the operating conditions of this system depends on the formation of a protective layer such as an oxide film. Martensitic steel T91 (Mod.9Cr-1M0) has been tested in LBE under static and isothermal conditions at 520 .deg. C in order to gain the interaction between structural steel and the LBE, and to study the feasibility of forming and maintaining an oxide layer as a means of protecting the structural material