Cellular Automaton Modeling on the Corrosion/Oxidation Mechanism of Steel in Liquid Metal Environment

Authors

Huajun Chen, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Yitung Chen, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Jinsuo Zhang, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2008

Publication Title

Progress in Nuclear Energy

Volume

50

Issue

2-6

First page number:

587

Last page number:

593

Abstract

Corrosion and oxidation of structure material in liquid lead alloys, which have been strongly associated with the nuclear industry, are specific but important areas of corrosion in liquid environments. In high temperature liquid metal environment, the corrosion rate of stainless steels is controlled by the solid diffusion of iron along grain boundaries in the oxide layer and a duplex oxide layer is formed with the inner layer growing by infiltration of corrosive solution along oxide micropores and the outer layer growing by the diffusion of metal ions. To interpret the role of diffusion and reaction process in the process of oxidation, a cellular automaton model, which combines the surface growth and internal oxidation, was created to explain the oxidation mechanism of steels in high temperature corrosive liquid metal environment. In this model, three main processes, which include the corrosion of the substrate, the diffusion of iron species across the oxide layer and precipitation of iron on the oxide layer, are simulated. The diffusion process is simulated by random walk model. Mapping between present model and experimental data has been created. The gross features concerning the evolution of the involved process were explored.

Keywords

Cellular automata modeling; Corrosion and anti-corrosives; Iron – Oxidation; Lead-bismuth alloys; Lead–bismuth eutectic; Liquid metals; Oxide coating; Oxide layer growth; Stainless steel – Corrosion

Disciplines

Engineering | Materials Science and Engineering | Mechanical Engineering | Metallurgy | Nuclear Engineering

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the item. Publisher policy does not allow archiving the final published version. If a post-print (author's peer-reviewed manuscript) is allowed and available, or publisher policy changes, the item will be deposited.

Repository Citation

Chen, H., Chen, Y., Zhang, J. (2008). Cellular Automaton Modeling on the Corrosion/Oxidation Mechanism of Steel in Liquid Metal Environment. Progress in Nuclear Energy, 50(2-6), 587-593.