A fused-salt electrolytic-cell pot containing a molten eutectic mixture of sodium, potassium, and lithium chlorides and operating at melt temperatures from 500 to 650 deg C (930 to 1200 deg F) exhibited excessive corrosion after two months of service. The pot was a welded cylinder with 3-mm thick type 304 stainless steel walls and was about 305 mm (12 in.) in height and diam. Analysis (visual inspection and 500x micrographs etched with CuCl2) supported the conclusions that the pot failed by intergranular corrosion because an unstabilized austenitic stainless steel containing more than 0.03% carbon had been sensitized and placed...