Abstract
Liquid metals have several possible applications in nuclear energy systems. Lead and lead alloys, such as lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE), are efficient heat transfer media because of high thermal conductivity and high heat capacity. However, it is widely recognized that corrosion of materials caused by lead-alloys presents a critical barrier to their industrial use. One of effective way to mitigate the corrosion is controlling the oxygen concentration in liquid lead alloy to form a protective oxide layer, which can serve as an effective barrier. To interpret the role of diffusion and reaction process in the process of oxidation, a stochastic model, which combines the surface growth and internal oxidation, was created to explain the oxidation mechanism of steels in high temperature corrosive liquid metal environment. The scale removal effect was coupled in the present model to investigate the effect of flow on protective oxide layer. The gross features concerning the evolution of the involved process were founded.
