Investigation of Corrosion of 304 Stainless, Inconel 625, and Haynes 230 in a Chloride-Salt-Based Thermal Storage Medium

One of the critical challenges for latent heat thermal energy storage systems in concentrating solar power applications is corrosion of metallic alloys as containment and heat transfer fluid tube materials in corrosive salts at high temperatures. In this study, the effects of MgCl2 on the corrosion of stainless steel 304, Inconel 625, and Haynes 230 alloys were investigated through embedded metal samples in the graphite foam/MgCl2 storage medium. Four experimental testing modules were fabricated, and experimental tests were conducted under controlled environment by heating the testing modules to and keeping them at 750 °C for 100, 200, 500, and 1000 h. The estimated corrosion rates based on the weight losses for stainless steel 304, Inconel 625, and Haynes 230 were 94, 9, and 8 μm/year, respectively. The fitted equations for the loss of the thickness as functions of the exposure time show that the corrosion rates decrease with the exposure time. The results on the corrosion zones or depths and chromium segregation ranges of the experimental samples are also presented.