About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2026 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Materials and Chemistry for Molten Salt Systems
|
| Presentation Title |
Corrosion of Stainless Steels in Molten Alkali Hydroxide Salt |
| Author(s) |
Logan Joel McIlwain, Amanda Leong, Ben Passyn, Jinsuo Zhang |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Logan Joel McIlwain |
| Abstract Scope |
Alkali hydroxide salts are being investigated for application to thermal energy storage (TES) plants due to their high heat capacities and low melting points. Unfortunately, alkali hydroxides, upon melting, will thermally decompose into moisture and metallic oxides. Released moisture, along with dissociated hydroxyl anions, can accelerate metallic corrosion. This study investigates the static corrosion of different stainless steels within a purified mixture of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and potassium hydroxide (KOH). Surface electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) are used to characterize, respectively, post-test sample topography and elemental composition. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is used to characterize the bulk elemental concentrations of post-test salts. Post-test sample and salt characterization will identify suitable steels to contain molten NaOH-KOH salts within TES facilities. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Other, Other, Energy Conversion and Storage |