Investigating the Electrical Resistance Technique for Structural Alloy Corrosion Monitoring within Supercritical CO₂ Power Cycles

Structural alloy corrosion is a major concern for the design and operation of supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO₂) power cycles. Looking towards the future of sCO₂ system development, the ability to measure real-time alloy corrosion would be invaluable to informing operation and maintenance of these systems. Sandia has recently explored methods available for in-situ alloy corrosion monitoring. Electrical resistance (ER) was chosen for initial tests due the operational simplicity and commercial availability. A series of long duration (>1000 hours) experiments have recently been completed at a range of temperatures (400-700°C) using ER probes made from four important structural alloys (C1010 Carbon Steel, 410ss, 304L, 316L) being considered for sCO₂ systems. Results from these tests are presented, including correlations between the probe measured corrosion rate to that for witness coupons of the same alloys.