Phase Stability Diagrams for High Temperature Corrosion Processes

Corrosion phenomena of metals by fused salts depend on chemical composition of the melt and environmental conditions of the system. Detail knowledge of chemistry and thermodynamic of aggressive species formed during the corrosion process is essential for a better understanding of materials degradation exposed to high temperature. When there is a lack of kinetic data for the corrosion processes, an alternative to understand the thermodynamic behavior of chemical species is to utilize phase stability diagrams. Nowadays, there are several specialized software programs to calculate phase stability diagrams. These programs are based on thermodynamics of chemical reactions. Using a thermodynamic data base allows the calculation of different types of phase diagrams. However, sometimes it is difficult to have access to such data bases. In this work, an alternative way to calculate phase stability diagrams is presented. The work is exemplified in the Na-V-S-O and Al-Na-V-S-O systems. This system was chosen because vanadium salts is one of the more aggressive system for all engineering alloys, especially in those processes where fossil fuels are used.