Surface Studies of the Corrosion of Stainless Steel by Lead Bismuth Eutectic: Surface Preparation Effects on 316 Stainless Steels

Abstract- The corrosion of stainless steel by Lead Bismuth Eutectic (LBE) is of interest due to the utility of LBE as a coolant and as a target for high-energy spectrum neutron facilities. In previous work, He and Li found that one of the 316 class stainless steels (nuclear rated, cold rolled rod) had an order of magnitude lower corrosion and oxidation than the other steels. The present study examines samples of 316 steel with the same composition but different surface preparation (cold rolled or annealed). Changes in composition and morphology of the surface layers of the 316 class steels are reported. We focus on unexposed samples and samples that were exposed to oxygen-controlled LBE at 823K for 3000 hrs at IPPE in Russia. I.