Corrosion Resistance of 316L Stainless Steel in HCL and FeCl3

Stainless steelStainless steel containers made from annealed 316L316L are used for storing radioactive laboratory wastesWaste including disposable gloves, polyvinylchloride (PVC) bags, and paper Kimwipes. Radiolysis of the PVC bags stored in the containers can form several by-products, including HClHCl acid. The question is whether the HClHCl acid can significantly attack the stainless steelStainless steel and reduce the planned lifetime of the containers. This research is aimed at estimating the lifetime of the 316L316L stainless steelStainless steel containers when exposed to the vapors of HClHCl or immersed in varying concentrations of HClHCl (12 M, 10 M, 1 M, 0.1 M) and 1.5 M FeCl3FeCl3). The test methods included weight loss, thickness loss, potentiodynamic polarization, and electrochemical impedanceImpedance spectroscopy. The preliminary test results indicate that the “uniform” corrosionCorrosion occurs in concentrated HClHCl (12 M), but pitting occurs in FeCl3FeCl3. The corrosion rateCorrosion rates starts slowly and increases with time in HClHCl while the opposite happens in FeCl3FeCl3.