Corrosion behavior of aluminum alloy in simulated nuclear accident environments regarding the chemical effects in GSI-191

Long-term aluminum (Al) corrosion tests were designed to investigate the condition that would generate severe Al corrosion and precipitation. Buffer agents of sodium tetraborate (NaTB), trisodium phosphate (TSP) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) were adopted. The insulation materials, fiberglass and calci...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Da Wang, Amanda Leong, Qiufeng Yang, Jinsuo Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2022-11-01
Series:Nuclear Engineering and Technology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1738573322003114
Description
Summary:Long-term aluminum (Al) corrosion tests were designed to investigate the condition that would generate severe Al corrosion and precipitation. Buffer agents of sodium tetraborate (NaTB), trisodium phosphate (TSP) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) were adopted. The insulation materials, fiberglass and calcium silicate (Ca-sil), were examined to explore their effects on Al corrosion. The results show that significant precipitates were formed in both NaTB/TSP-buffered solutions at high pH. The precipitates formed in NaTB solution raise more concerns on chemical effects in GSI-191. A passivation layer formed on the surfaces of coupon in solution with the presence of insulations could effectively mitigate Al corrosion. The Fe-enriched intermetallic particles (IPs) embedded in coupon appeared to serve as seeds to readily induce precipitation via providing extra area for heterogeneous Al hydroxide precipitation. X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses indicate that the precipitates are mainly boehmite (γ-AlOOH) and no direct evidence confirms the presence of sodium aluminum silicate or calcium phosphate.
ISSN:1738-5733