Modeling Corrosion in Oxygen Controlled LBE Systems with Coupling of Chemical

The Lead-Bismuth eutectic (LBE) has been determined from previous experimental studies by the Russians and the European scientific community to be a potential material that can be used as a spallation target and coolant for the TRP proposed application. Properly controlling the oxygen content in LBE can drastically reduce the LBE corrosion to structural steels. However, existing knowledge of material corrosion performance was obtained from point-wise testing with only very sparse experimental data. Scientists have noticed that the concentration of oxygen dissolved in the liquid alloy could control the corrosion rate of steels exposed to Pb or Pb-Bi. At high oxygen concentration, an oxide layer could be formed on the steel surface (lead oxides are less stable than iron oxide), which protects it from corrosion. At low oxygen concentration, there is no oxidation and corrosion occurs by dissolution of the steel component