In Situ Corrosion Monitoring of the T91 Alloy in a Molten Chloride Salt Using a Miniaturized Electrochemical Probe for High-Throughput Applications

Abstract

Corrosion sensing is essential to monitor and safeguard materials’ health in molten salts. The present study developed a three-electrode-array minisensor for high-temperature molten salt corrosion monitoring. By using the developed sensor, the impurity-driven corrosion of T91 by a fission product, europium, in the LiCl–KCl eutectic molten salt has been studied. The developed minisensor was validated to be an ideal probe for in situ corrosion monitoring in the high-temperature molten salt via the comparisons on concentrations of the dissolved corrosion products detected using this device and inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy. To analyze the large volume of data measured using the minisensor during in situ corrosion experiments, an algorithm has been developed to achieve the high-throughput data analysis. The well-designed minisensor can be potentially used for high-throughput corrosion experiments. Combined with the developed algorithm for high-throughput analysis, this study provided a platform to explore the application of electrochemical sensors for the in situ corrosion monitoring of materials in high-throughput molten-salt corrosion experiments.

High-Throughput Electrochemistry to Study Materials Degradation in Extreme Environments

“…25 Another possibility is using a microelectrochemical probe suspended into the molten salt droplet placed on top of each alloy as designed in the ex situ corrosion experiments shown in Figure 2d. 26 These types of automated SDC techniques are seen as a very promising tool for electrochemical HTS of alloys for applications in extreme environments.…”

“…Another strategy for HTS in high-temperature molten salts proposed by Hoyt et al uses small crucibles manufactured from the alloys of interests and performs automated electrochemical techniques such as cyclic voltammetry to in situ monitor the dissolved corrosion products . Another possibility is using a microelectrochemical probe suspended into the molten salt droplet placed on top of each alloy as designed in the ex situ corrosion experiments shown in Figure d . These types of automated SDC techniques are seen as a very promising tool for electrochemical HTS of alloys for applications in extreme environments.…”