Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Hadi Adelkhani ¹
• Fatemeh Parsayan ¹
• leyla irannejad ²

¹ Nuclear Fuel Cycle Research School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, AEOI, P.O. Box:11365-8486, Tehran-Iran

² Central Laboratory, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, AEOI, P.O. Box:11365-8486, Tehran-Iran

Abstract

In this paper, aluminum 5052 (AA 5052), as one of candidate alloys for nuclear fuel clad, has been selected and its corrosion behavior have been studied in electrolyte containing NaCl and Na2SO4. Potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance methods have been used to investigate corrosion of AA 5052. The morphology and characterization studies of corrosion products are carried out by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) methods. In the Na2SO4 electrolyte, the corrosion resistance of the sample has improved by increasing the time, as that the corrosion current has decreased from 10-5.4 mA/cm2 for 1 hour to 10-6 mA/cm2 for 11 days, and AA 5052 has shown a wider passivation potential range (ΔEpass) and less passivation current (ipass) in 11 days. The pitting corrosion, elimination of passivation zone and increasing number and size of pits have been seen by increasing the time in NaCl electrolyte. These results confirms that the influence of time on the passivation behavior of AA 5052, preliminary depended on the chemical composition of the electrolyte (presence or absence of chlorine and sulfate anions). Also employing of tensile stress shows a destructive effect on the passive layer as the passivation behavior of AA 5052 has eliminated by the application of tensile stress.

Keywords

• Aluminum
• AA 5052
• Corrosion
• Fuel Clad
• Time
• Tensile Stress

Main Subjects

• NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS