Advanced corrosion mitigation strategies
The main objective of this WP is to provide adequate and reliable solutions for the mitigation of the structural materials’ corrosion and degradation when these are exposed at high temperatures (>500°C) to Pb, Pb alloys and He environment. In order to achieve this objective two strategies are considered to be investigated and optimised: (i) surface engineering techniques applied to austenitic steels and (ii) development of advanced (alumina- forming) austenitic steels. Based on the results obtained during the first year implementation of the EERA pilot projects ALCORE and STAR-TREC, a two step approach to reach the final aim is foreseen. In the first 12 to 14 months more than 7 different AFA model alloys will be produced and based on dedicated tests in WP1.3 and WP4 (stagnant corrosion in Pb alloys) the three most promising compositions will be selected. In step two these selected compositions will be produced in larger scale (one with 250 kg, the two others in the kg range) for further testing under dedicated environmental conditions. Parallel to this activity the PLD, gun deposition and GESA surface alloying process will be optimized to be ready in month 12 to produce coatings and surface alloys in an optimized and reproducible quality. To achieve these objectives four main task are defined:
- Design, production and characterization of alumina forming bulk austenitic steels and alloys and modified surface layers
- Processing and characterization of alumina coatings on austenitic steels
- Characterization of mechanical properties in air and inert environment
- Establishing of guidelines for the qualification of AFA-steel, modified surface layers and coatings