Investigation on material degradation of Alloy 617 in high temperature impure helium coolant

Abstract

The corrosion of materials exposed to high temperature helium in a very high temperature reactor is caused by interaction with the impurities in the helium. This interaction then induces high temperature mechanical deterioration. By considering the effect of the impurity concentration on material corrosion, a long-term coolant chemistry guideline can be determined for the range of impurity concentration at which the material is stable for a long time. In this work, surface reactions were investigated by analyzing the thermodynamics and the experimental results for Alloy 617 exposed to controlled impure helium at 950°C. Moreover, the surfaces were examined for the Alloy 617 crept in air and in uncontrolled helium, which was explained by possible surface reactions.