964
Corrosion and Redox Potential Control of High Temperature Materials in Fluoride and Chloride Molten Salts 

Thursday, 2 June 2016: 10:20
Indigo 204 B (Hilton San Diego Bayfront)
R. E. Fuentes, L. C. Olson, M. J. Martinez-Rodriguez, J. R. Gray, and B. L. Garcia-Diaz (Savannah River National Laboratory)
Concentrating solar power (CSP) systems that can operate at higher temperatures can achieve higher efficiencies and power production using high temperature power cycles.  Operating at these higher temperatures requires identifying heat transfer fluids and materials of construction for heat transfer systems that will provide good operating characteristics and long system lifetimes under these conditions. Advanced power cycles such as the supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle can operate above 800°C and molten salts are one of the best options to transfer heat at these conditions due to their very high boiling points and good heat transfer properties.  However, a potential drawback with using high temperature molten halide salts is materials corrosion.  Therefore, it is important to identify pairs of heat transfer materials and molten salts that will have the mechanical properties and chemical stability that will provide long system lifetimes. Several alloys that can be used for high temperature operation includes alloys with high nickel and chromium content, such as Haynes 230, and high cobalt and chromium content, such as Haynes NS-163. However, weight loss by dealloying of Cr from high temperature alloys containing Cr was observed. In this work, several high temperature alloys were exposed to molten KCl-MgCl2 and FLiNaK (LiF-NaF-KF) at several temperatures ranging from 750 to 950 °C for 100 hours. For redox potential control, Mg and Zr were added into the test. The alloys were examined via SEM/EDS post corrosion at the surface and cross-section to account for the corrosion attack and element depletion from bulk. The salts were analyzed via ICP-OES to quantify the elements that were depleted and diffused into the salt.