Pr epar ed b y Sa ndi a N at i ona l La bor a tor i es Al buqu er qu e, N ew M exi c o 8 7185 and Li v er m o r e, C al i for n i a 9455 0 Sa nd i a i s a m u l ti pr ogr am l a bo r at or y o pe r at ed by S and i a C o r p or a ti on, a Lo ckh ee d M ar ti n C om p an y, fo r t he U n i t ed St ate s D ep ar tm e nt of En er gy un der C ont r a ct D E -AC 04 -94 AL 850 00 .Ap pr ov ed f or p ubl i c r e l eas e; f ur th er d i sse m i na ti on unl i m i t ed.Issued by Sandia National Laboratories, operated for the United States Department of Energy by Sandia Corporation.NOTICE: This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency o the United States Government.Neither the United States Government, nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, nor any of their contracto subcontractors, or their employees, make any warranty, express or implied, or ass any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulne information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represent that its use not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commer product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwi does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favo by the United States Government, any agency thereof, or any of their contractor subcontractors. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily stat reflect those of the United States Government, any agency thereof, or any of t contractors.Printed in the United States of America. This report has been reproduced direc from the best available copy.
ABSTRACTThe corrosion behavior of three austenitic stainless steels was evaluated during thermal cycling in molten salt mixtures consisting of NaNO 3 and KNO 3 . Corrosion tests were conducted with Types 316, 316L and 304 stainless steels for more than 4000 hours and 500 thermal cycles at a maximum temperature of 565°C. Corrosion rates were determined by chemically descaling coupons. Metal losses ranged from 5 to 16 microns and thermal cycling resulted in moderately higher corrosion rates compared to isothermal conditions. Type 316 SS was somewhat more corrosion resistant than Type 304 SS in these tests. The effect of carbon content on corrosion resistance was small, as 316L SS corroded only slightly slower than 316 SS. The corrosion rates increased as the dissolved chloride content of the molten salt mixtures increased. Chloride concentrations approximating 1 wt.%, coupled with thermal cycling, resulted in linear weight loss kinetics, rather than parabolic kinetics, which described corrosion rates for all other conditions. Optical microscopy and electron microprobe analysis revealed that the corrosion products consisted of iron-chromium spinel, magnetite, and sodium ferrite, organized as separate layers. Microanalysis of the elemental composition of the corrosion products further demonstrated that the chromium content of the iron-chromium spinel layer was relatively high for conditions in whic...