High temperature oxidation of SiC f /PyC/SiC composite in helium for the Gas-cooled Fast Reactor

Ludovic Charpentier (1) , Marianne Balat-Pichelin (1) , Kamel Dawi (1) , F. Audubert (2)

1 PROMES - Procédés, Matériaux et Energie Solaire
2 LTEC - Laboratoire des Technologies d'Elaboration des Combustibles

The cladding material envisaged for the Gas-cooled Fast Reactor (GFR) is a SiC f /PyC/SiC composite with a β-SiC coating on the surface that is subjected to temperatures going up to 1500 K in nominal operating condition and up to 2300 K in accidental operating conditions, in helium pressurized at 7 MPa. An experimental approach was made on SiC f /PyC/SiC under active oxidation conditions (1400 ≤ T ≤ 2300 K; 0.2 ≤ pO 2 ≤ 2 Pa). The variation of the mass loss rates according to the temperature showed the existence of three domains. The oxygen partial pressure had a weak impact on the mass loss rate for temperatures lower than 2070 K. Beyond 2070 K, the mass loss rate increased leading to important damage of the material, at lower temperature under pO 2 = 0.2 Pa than under pO 2 = 2 Pa, which was associated to the effect of the oxygen partial pressure on the sublimation of SiC.

Mots clés: SiC; composites; oxidation; characterization

Domaines: Matériaux

Ludovic Charpentier, Marianne Balat-Pichelin, Kamel Dawi, F. Audubert. High temperature oxidation of SiC f /PyC/SiC composite in helium for the Gas-cooled Fast Reactor. 8th INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON HIGH-TEMPERATURE CORROSION AND PROTECTION OF MATERIALS, May 2012, Les Embiez, France. ⟨hal-02313875⟩