Design of alumina forming FeCrAl steels for lead or lead–bismuth cooled fast reactors

Iron–chromium–aluminum alloys containing 15–20wt.% Cr and 4–6wt.% Al have shown excellent corrosion resistance in the temperature range up to 600°C or higher in liquid lead and lead–bismuth eutectic environments by the formation of protective Al2O3 layers. However, the higher Cr and Al concentrations in ferritic alloys could be problematic because of severe embrittlement in the manufacturing process as well as in service, caused by the formation of brittle phases. For this reason, efforts worldwide have so far mainly focused on the development of aluminizing surface treatments. However, aluminizing surface treatments have major disadvantages of cost, processing difficulties and reliability issues. In this study, a new FeCrAl alloy is proposed for structural materials in lead and lead–bismuth cooled nuclear applications. The alloy design relied on corrosion experiments in high temperature lead and lead–bismuth eutectic environments and computational thermodynamic calculations using the commercial software, JMatPro. The design of new alloys has focused on the optimization of Cr and Al levels for the formation of an external Al2O3 layer which can provide excellent oxidation and corrosion resistance in liquid lead alloys in the temperature range 300–600°C while still retaining workable mechanical properties.