Analysis of Corrosion of Stainless Steel in a Sodium and High Radiation Environment

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Abstract
The effects of radiation on the corrosion of stainless steel in a sodium environment are explored by use of an analytical model of the corrosion process which divides it into leaching and “bulk corrosion.” Leaching is assumed to be diffusion controlled and bulk corrosion is assumed to occur linearly with time. The predictions of the model indicate that out-of-pile corrosion weight loss undergoes an initial transient behavior and then becomes linear with time. Further, the ferrite layer formed on austenitic steel reaches a limiting value depending on the diffusion coefficients in the ferrite and the rate of bulk corrosion. Analysis of the effects of fast neutron sputtering on the process shows that the principal effects will be (a) to shorten the time required for the weight loss to become linear, (b) to increase the “equilibrium” corrosion rate, (c) to shorten the time required for the ferrite layer to reach its equilibrium value, and (d) to decrease the thickness of the ferrite layer.

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