Research progress on corrosion and damage of stainless steel in high temperature molten salts

With the increasing shortage of fossil fuels and the negative impact of carbon dioxide emissions on the global environment, the use of renewable energy sources is increasing. As one of the most cost-effective renewable electricity technologies, concentrated solar-thermal power (CSP) technology has made a significant contribution to the supply of renewable energy. Compared with other heat transfer fluids (HTFs), the corrosion and damage problems are more significant in CSP equipment using molten salts at high temperature. Among others, abundant and inexpensive replacements of HTFs are also being intensively investigated. In this paper, the application of concentrated solar-thermal power technology was summarized, especially the research status of the influence of impurity and composition of gaseous atmosphere etc. on the corrosion behavior of stainless steels in high temperature HTFs such as molten nitrates, chlorides and carbonates, and the damages induced by thermal fatigue and stress corrosion cracking were introduced. Finally, the current problems and the future development directions related with the CSP system are also discussed.