High corrosion resistance of twin boundaries in medium-entropy alloy exposed to liquid lead-bismuth eutectic at 500 °C: Mechanism exploration by both experiment and first-principles calculation

The present study discovered the twin boundaries (TBs) of CoCrNi medium-entropy alloy (MEA) exhibited high corrosion resistance to liquid lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) at 500 °C with 5 × 10−7 mass% dissolved oxygen. The grain boundaries (GBs) were corroded by LBE, forming brittle Bi3Ni phases in LBE interior and at the LBE/CoCrNi interface. First-principles calculation indicated that the Bi diffusion energy barriers at GBs and TBs were 0.69 eV and 1.52 eV, respectively. The high diffusion barrier for Bi atom in CoCrNi MEA contributed to the high corrosion resistance of TBs in the liquid LBE.