Improved Application of Local Models to Steel Corrosion in Lead-Bismuth Loops

The corrosion of steels exposed to flowing liquid metals is influenced by local and global conditions of flow systems. The present study improves the previous local models when applied to closed loops by incorporating some global condition effects. In particular the bulk corrosion product concentration is calculated based on balancing the dissolution and precipitation in the entire closed loop. Mass transfer expressions developed in aqueous medium and an analytical expression are tested in the liquid-metal environments. The improved model is applied to a pure lead loop and produces results closer to the experimental data than the previous local models do. The model is also applied to a lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) test loop. Systematic studies illustrate the effects of the flow rate, the oxygen concentration in LBE, and the temperature profile on the corrosion rate.