Corrosion of stainless steels and carbon steel by molten mixtures of commercial nitrate salts

The isothermal corrosion behavior of two stainless steels and a carbon (C) steel in mixtures of NaNO₃ and KNO₃ was evaluated to determine if the impurities found in commodity grades of alkali nitrates aggravate corrosivity as applicable to an advanced solar thermal energy system. Corrosion tests were conducted for approximately 7000 hours with Types 304 and 316 stainless steels at 570 °C and A36 C steel at 316 °C in seven mixtures of NaNO₃ and KNO₃ containing variations in impurity concentrations. Corrosion tests were also conducted in a ternary mixture of NaNO₃, KNO₃, and Ca(NO₃)₂. Corrosion rates were determined by descaled weight losses while oxidation products were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron microprobe analysis (EPMA), and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The nitrate mixtures were periodically analyzed for changes in impurity concentrations and for soluble corrosion products. Results of these tests indicated that the short-term corrosion rates of the stainless steel specimens in many of the mixtures could be described in terms of parabolic kinetics. However, no single rate law could be assigned to the corrosion kinetics resulting from exposure in all of the mixtures. For engineering applications, corrosion rates over the entire exposure period are best described as linear with respect to time. In the binary nitrate mixtures, the annualized rates of metal loss were found to be between 6 and 15 μm/year for the stainless steel specimens at 570 °C depending on the particular mixture. Metal loss for the C steel specimens immersed in these same mixtures at 316 °C extrapolated to approximately 1–4 μm/year. SEM and XRD revealed that the complex, multiphase surface oxides formed on the stainless steel coupons were composed primarily of iron-chromium spinel, iron oxides, and sodium ferrite. Magnetite was the principal corrosion product formed on the carbon steel specimens. Overall, for the typical range of impurities in commercially available nitrate salts, corrosion rates for solar thermal energy applications remained acceptable for all of the materials examined.