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Corrosion resistance of vanadium alloys in lithium upon neutron irradiation
The corrosion resistance of aluminothermic vanadium and vanadium-based binary (with 10 and 35 at. % Ti) and ternary (V–Ti–Cr) alloys in lithium is studied upon neutron irradiation. Samples of the alloys sealed in lithium-filled ampules are irradiated with fast neutrons to a fluence of 1023 cm–2 at 350–830°C in a BOR-60 reactor. It is found that the concentration of interstitial impurities (oxygen and carbon) at the surface of vanadium alloys upon irradiation is higher than that in the alloys studied under static conditions. When the vanadium alloys operate under irradiation and attack by lithium used as a heat-transfer medium, a high contamination of the surface layers in the alloys with interstitial impurities and their effect on the physical and mechanical
properties of the alloys it should be taken into account.