Compatibility of materials for advanced blanket with liquid LiPb

Parametric data of the corrosion (or erosion) behavior of blanket structural materials by LiPb liquid metals in flow conditions at high temperature with LiPb stream were measured to evaluate the compatibility. That is essential for the feasibility of high temperature blanket. An apparatus to rotate disk materials in liquid LiPb metal was used to measure the effect of flow speed as a function of the radial position on the disk. The materials used in this study were the Stainless steel (SUS316) for the reference and NITE SiC f /SiC composite (ϕ 35×2 mm), exposed to relative flow velocity of 10.47∼36.65 cm/s at 900 °C for 1000 h. The compatibility characteristics such as the mass transfer, change of microstructure and compositions, etc. of the specimens during the corrosion process were examined by optical microscope, fine scale weight measurement, SEM/EDX and AFM. The results showed that the NITE SiC f /SiC composites had poor wettability with the liquid LiPb and presented the good compatibility. However a part of the fiber coated with C was wet with the metal and a precipitation of metallic elements were observed.