Remi Delville

This work addresses the dissolution corrosion behaviour of 316L austenitic stainless steels. For this purpose, solution-annealed and cold-deformed 316L steels were simultaneously exposed to oxygen-poor (< 10-8 mass%) static liquid lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) for 253-3282 h at 500C. Corrosion was consistently more severe for the cold-drawn steels than the solution-annealed steel, indicating the importance of the steel thermomechanical state. The thickness of the dissolution-affected zone was non-uniform, and sites of locally-enhanced dissolution were occasionally observed. The progress of LBE dissolution attack was promoted by the interplay of certain steel microstructural features (grain boundaries, deformation twin laths, precipitates) with the dissolution corrosion process. The identified dissolution mechanisms were selective leaching leading to steel ferritization, and non-selective leaching; the latter was mainly observed in the solution-annealed steel. The maximum corrosion rate decreased with exposure time and was found to be inversely proportional to the depth of dissolution attack.

This study reports on the synthesis and characterization of MAX phases in the (Zr,Ti)n+1AlCn system. The MAX phases were synthesized by reactive hot pressing and pressureless sintering in the 1350-1700°C temperature range. The produced ceramics contained large fractions of 211 and 312 (n=1 and 2) MAX phases, while strong evidence of a 413 (n=3) stacking was found. Moreover, (Zr,Ti)C, ZrAl2, ZrAl3, and Zr2Al3 were present as secondary phases. In general, the lattice parameters of the hexagonal 211 and 312 phases followed Vegard's law over the complete Zr-Ti solid solution range, but the 312 phase showed a non-negligible deviation from Vegard's law around the (Zr0.33,Ti0.67)3Al1.2C1.6 stoichiometry. High-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy combined with X-ray diffraction demonstrated ordering of the Zr and Ti atoms in the 312 phase, whereby Zr atoms occupied preferentially the central position in the close-packed M6X octahedral layers. The same ordering was also observed in 413 stackings present within the 312 phase. The decomposition of the secondary (Zr,Ti)C phase was attributed to the miscibility gap in the ZrC-TiC system.