A study on corrosion behavior of austenitic stainless steel in liquid metals at high temperature

The purpose of this study is to investigate the interaction between austenitic stainless steel, AISI 316L, and gallium liquid metal at a high temperature, for the potential application to advanced fast reactor coolants. Test specimens of AISI 316L were exposed to static gallium at 500 °C for up to 700 h in two different cover-gas conditions, including air and vacuum. Similar experimental tests were conducted in gallium alloy liquid metal environments, including Ga–14Sn–6Zn and Ga–8Sn–6Zn, in order to study the effect of addition of alloying elements. The results have shown that the weight change and metal loss of specimens were generally reduced in Ga–14Sn–6Zn and Ga–8Sn–6Zn compared to those in pure gallium at a high temperature.