6. Protection against corrosion by liquid metals

The preceding paragraphs have essentially dealt with the corrosion phenomena of steels in liquid metals and alloys, their understanding and the associated models that it was possible to develop. However, as in the case of lead alloys, corrosion rates can become very high: for temperatures in excess of 450-500°C, the steels conventionally used and presented in this article can no longer be considered. For these high-temperature ranges, several options are being considered to find material solutions compatible with the temperature conditions:

• control of the dissolved oxygen content in the liquid alloy to avoid the dissolution mode of the material and thus promote the growth of a protective oxide layer on the surface of the material. This oxygen concentration must be finely tuned to ensure the lowest possible oxidation kinetics, and thus the...