Electrochemical corrosion of Cu–Al2O3 heat sink material in deionized water
摘要
Nano-Al2O3 particles dispersion strengthened Cu-based composite is a promising heat sink material for deionized water-cooled divertors in future nuclear fusion reactors. However, divertor heat sink materials in nuclear fusion environments are often subjected to severe service conditions, which aggravates the corrosion tendency of copper alloys. This study investigates the corrosion behavior of Cu–Al2O3 composite in deionized water and to elucidate the effects of high temperature (120 ℃) and high pressure (5 MPa). Results demonstrated that Al2O3 particle clusters-induced pitting and crystallographic orientation-induced surface roughness were the dominant forms under the room-temperature ambient pressure condition. Both pressure and temperature increase accelerated the corrosion rate of Cu–Al2O3 composite. Localized pitting initiates from the Cu substrate at the periphery of the Al2O3 particle clusters, and it propagates preferentially along the longitudinal directions where Al2O3 particle clusters oriented.