Corrosion scales on various steels after exposure to liquid lead–bismuth eutectic

Abstract Several steels were exposed to either static or flowing liquid lead–bismuth eutectic under various exposure conditions. Steels T91, EP-823, S2439 and S2440 were exposed to oxygen-rich static LBE at 490 °C for ∼5016 h. The experiments in flowing LBE were carried out in the CORRIDA loop at 550 °C and around 10 −6  mass% dissolved oxygen. The steels tested in the CORRIDA loop included the reduced activation steel EUROFER 97 and two heats of an oxide dispersion strengthened steel produced by mixing EUROFER 97 and yttria powders. The exposure time varied between 1007 and 7511 h for the EUROFER 97 steel and between 5012 and 20039 h for the two ODS heats. The exposed steels were characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry.