Corrosion-erosion test of SS316L grain boundary engineering material (GBEM) in lead bismuth flowing loop

To evaluate the lifetime of structural materials utilized in a spallation neutron source, corrosion tests in lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) have been done at JAEA. Austenitic steels are preferable as the structural material for ADS. However, previous studies have revealed that austenitic steel SS316 shows severe corrosion-erosion in LBE because of LBE penetration through grain boundaries and separation of grains. So it was considered that GBE (grain-boundary engineered) materials may be effective to improve the corrosion resistance of austenitic steels in LBE. In this study, the results of corrosion tests on austenitic steel SS316L-BM (base metal) and SS316L-GBEM (grain-boundary- engineered material) under flowing LBE conditions will be reported. The corrosion test was performed using the JAEA lead-bismuth material corrosion loop (JLBL-1). The experimental conditions were as follows: The high and low temperature parts of the loop were 450 °C and 350 °C, respectively. The flow velocity at the test specimens was about 0.7 m/s. The oxygen concentration in LBE was not controlled and was estimated to have been very low. After the 3600 h of operation, macroscopic, SEM, and SIM observations and EDX analysis were carried out. The results showed that the corrosion depth and LBE penetration through the grain boundaries of the 316SS-GBEM were smaller than those of the 316SS-BM.