High temperature corrosion of structural materials under gas-cooled reactor helium

The Generation IV International Forum has selected six promising nuclear power systems for further collaborative investigations and development. Among these six concepts, two candidates are Gas Cooled Reactors (GCR), namely the Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) and the Gas-cooled Fast Reactor (GFR). The CEA has launched a R&D program on the metallic materials for application in an innovative GCR. Structural GCR alloys have been extensively studied in the past three decades. Some critical aspects for the steels and nickel base alloys resistance under the service conditions are microstructural stability, creep strength and compatibility with the cooling gas. The coolant, namely helium, proved to contain impurities mainly H-2, CO, CH4, N-2 and steam in the microbar range that interact with metals at high temperature. Surface scale formation, bulk carburisation and/or decarburisation can occur, depending on the atmosphere characteristics, primarily the effective oxygen partial pressure and carbon activity, on the temperature and on the alloys chemical composition. These structural transformations can notably influence the mechanical properties: carburisation may induce a loss in toughness and ductility whereas decarburisation impedes the creep strength. There is a valuable theoretical as well as practical knowledge on the corrosion of high temperature alloys in the primary circuit of a GCR but this past experience is not sufficient to qualify every component in a future reactor. On the one hand, the material environment could be significantly different from the former GCR's, especially regarding the higher temperature. On the other hand, the materials of interest are partly different. Ni-Cr-W alloys, for instance, may offer significant improvement in the maximum operating temperature as far as the mechanical properties are concerned. However, their corrosion resistance toward the GCR atmosphere is still unknown. We describe here our first corrosion tests of Haynes 230, a high strength Ni base alloy containing tungsten, under low oxidising helium at 750 degrees C or 950 degrees C. The experiments were carried out in a purposely-designed device that allows controlling low impurity partial pressure. The test duration was up to 1000 h. The corrosion behaviour was assessed through gravimetry and microscopy. Some specimens were investigated using EDS and DRX. The results under low oxidizing potential are compared to the oxidation kinetics in air. Tentative interpretations are proposed based on published models.