Corrosion of stainless steels in lead-bismuth eutectic up to 600 deg. C

An experimental program has been carried out to understand the differences in the corrosion behaviour between different stainless steels: the austenitic steels 304L and 316L, the martensitic steels F82Hmod, T91 and EM10, and the low alloy steel P22. The influence of oxygen level in Pb-Bi, temperature and exposure time is studied. At 600 deg. C, the martensitic steels and the P22 steel exhibit thick oxide scales that grow with time, following a linear law for the wet environment and a parabolic law for the dry one. The austenitic stainless steels show a better corrosion behaviour, especially AISI 304L. Under reducing conditions, the steels exhibit dissolution, more severe for the austenitic stainless steels. At 450 deg. C, all the materials show an acceptable behaviour provided a sufficient oxygen level in the Pb-Bi. At reducing conditions, the martensitic steels and the P22 steel have a good corrosion resistance, while the austenitic steels exhibit already dissolution at the longer exposures