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Liquid Metal Corrosion: History
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Contributor: Eng Editorial Office

Liquid metal corrosion is the degradation of a solid structural material caused by its contact with a molten metallic phase—such as liquid gallium, sodium, lead-bismuth eutectic, mercury, or lithium—wherein the liquid metal dissolves the solid at its surface, penetrates grain boundaries, and attacks the alloy environment rather than acting through an aqueous electrochemical electrolyte [1]. The phenomenon encompasses several coupled mechanisms: dissolution of the more reactive or more soluble constituent of the solid alloy into the liquid, intergranular penetration of the liquid metal along grain boundaries, and liquid metal embrittlement, in which a small amount of liquid metal wets a crack tip and lowers the energy required for crack propagation, producing brittle intergranular or cleavage fracture in an otherwise ductile solid [2]. Because the liquid metal attacks the interface atomically, the process is controlled by the solubility of the solid in the liquid, the diffusion rate of the liquid-metal atoms along boundaries, temperature gradients that drive mass transport, and the protective properties of any adherent oxide layer on the solid. The mechanism is therefore one of interfacial dissolution and grain-boundary penetration rather than electrochemical oxidation in a conducting solution [3].

  • liquid metal embrittlement
  • gallium
  • grain-boundary penetration
  • dissolution
  • interfacial attack

 Metallurgical and Alloy Processes •  General Materials Science •  Materials Science •  Physical Sciences

References

  1. A. P. Reynolds; G. E. Stoner; Cleavage crystallography of liquid metal embrittled aluminum alloys. Met. Trans. A 1991, 22, 1849-1855, 10.1007/bf02646509.
  2. C.F. Old; Liquid metal embrittlement of nuclear materials. J. Nucl. Mater. 1980, 92, 2-25, 10.1016/0022-3115(80)90136-1.
  3. British Nuclear Energy Society. Liquid metal engineering and technology. British Nuclear Energy Society: London, UK; 1984. ISBN: 0727702092.
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