Contribution of modeling to explain the depassivation of chromia-forming alloys in molten glasses

Abstract The corrosion of chromia-forming alloys by molten glass is an issue encountered in industrial processes such as glass fiber production or nuclear waste vitrification. A model of the corrosion of such alloys in molten glass media is developed in this work. This simple model predicts the corrosion state of the alloy (passive of active) and the evolution of the Cr2O3 layer thickness with a low number of input parameters. Furthermore, the model allows to explain the depassivation of the alloy by identifying the conditions involving a lack of oxygen supply in the liquid towards the oxide.