Determination of dissolution rates of f/m steels in LBE from measured evolutions of oxide scale thickness

The knowledge of oxide scale growth under forced flow conditions in LBE systems is of great importance for long-term design calculations, as they have a big influence on the thermal behavior of heat transfer components. In the high temperature part of a reactor system there may be dissolution effects on the oxide scale increasing with temperature and flow velocity. Experimental values of oxide scale dissolution rates are rather scarce; amongst them are those of [M. Machut, K. Sridharan, N. Li, S. Ukai, T. Allen, J. Nucl. Mater. 371 (2007) 134]. A critical assessment of the adopted method seems necessary. An alternative method based on measurements of metal recession may help to clarify the situation.