Candidate Coatings for Lead Fast Reactor Components: A Systematic Screening of Liquid-Lead Compatibility-Part I

The development of protective coatings is a key requirement to extend the operating window of structural materials in lead-cooled fast reactors, particularly at temperatures where corrosion of conventional steels becomes increasingly challenging to control. In this work, a code-oriented, systematic and technology-agnostic screening of candidate coating systems was performed to assess their chemical compatibility with liquid lead under representative and controlled conditions. Different coating technologies and material systems were investigated. Part I of the work covers atmospheric plasma spraying, high-velocity oxy-fuel spraying, and cold gas spray of Al-rich austenitic and ferritic alloys, and chrome electrodeposition. The results show that, while Al-rich metallic coatings can effectively protect the underlying substrates under the investigated conditions, Cr-based materials studied here cannot. Such an outcome provides a comparative basis for the down-selection of coating technologies for LFR components.