Corrosion studies on type AISI 316L stainless steel and other materials in lithium-salt solutions

A possible concept for the blanket for next generation fusion devices is the lithium salt blanket, where lithium salt is dissolved in an aqueous coolant in order to provide for tritium. Type AISI 316L stainless steel has been considered as a structural material for such a blanket for NET (Next European Torus), and a systematic study of the corrosion behaviour of 316L stainless steel has been carried out in a number of lithium salt solutions. The experiments include cyclic potentiodynamic polarization measurement, crevice corrosion, corrosion fatigue and stress corrosion cracking (SCC) tests. This paper presents a part of novel corrosion results concerning the compatibility of 316L steel and a series of other materials relevant to a fusion blanket environment. No major uniform corrosion problem has been observed, but localized corrosion, particularly corrosion fatigue and SCC, of 316L stainless steel have been fund so far in a lithium hydroxide solution under some specific potential conditions. The critical electrochemical potential zones for SCC have been identified in the present study.status: publishe