The Effect of Static Liquid Galinstan on Common Metals and Non-Metals at Temperatures up to 200 °C
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Canadian Journal of Chemistry The Effect of Static Liquid Galinstan on Common Metals and Non-Metals at Temperatures up to 200 °C Journal: Canadian Journal of Chemistry Manuscript ID cjc-2020-0227.R1 Manuscript Type: Article Date Submitted by the 19-Jul-2020 Author: Complete List of Authors: Geddis, Philip; Natural Resources Canada, CanmetENERGY-Ottawa Wu, Lijun; Natural Resources Canada, CanmetENERGY-Ottawa McDonald, Andrew; Natural Resources Canada, CanmetENERGY-Ottawa Chen, Steven; Natural Resources Canada, CanmetENERGY-Ottawa Clements, DraftBruce; Natural Resources Canada, CanmetENERGY-Ottawa Is the invited manuscript for consideration in a Special Not applicable (regular submission) Issue? : Galinstan corrosion, Gallium corrosion, liquid metal corrosion, liquid Keyword: metal embrittlement, magnetohydrodynamics https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjc-pubs Page 1 of 31 Canadian Journal of Chemistry The Effect of Static Liquid Galinstan on Common Metals and Non-Metals at Temperatures up to 200 °C Philip Geddis*, Lijun Wu, Andrew McDonald, Steven Chen, Bruce Clements * [email protected], 613-947-3128 ORCID 0000-0002-5610-9748 CanmetENERGY-Ottawa, Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 1M1, Canada Draft KEYWORDS Galinstan corrosion, Gallium corrosion, liquid metal embrittlement, liquid metal corrosion, magnetohydrodynamics DECLARATIONS FUNDING This research has been funded by Natural Resources Canada through the Energy Innovation Program (EIP). CONFLICTS OF The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. INTEREST/COMPETING INTERESTS: AVAILABILITY OF DATA The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are AND MATERIALS available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. AUTHORS’ CONTRIBUTIONS Study conception and design was carried out by Philip Geddis. Material preparation and data collection were carried out by Philip Geddis, Andrew McDonald, and Steven Chen. Analysis and interpretation were carried out by Philip Geddis, Lijun Wu, and Steven Chen. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Philip Geddis and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjc-pubs Canadian Journal of Chemistry Page 2 of 31 The Effect of Static Liquid Galinstan on Common Metals and Non-Metals at Temperatures up to 200 °C Philip Geddis*, Lijun Wu, Andrew McDonald, Steve Chen, Bruce Clements CanmetENERGY-Ottawa, Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 1M1, Canada KEYWORDS Galinstan corrosion, Gallium corrosion, liquid metal embrittlement, liquid metal corrosion, magnetohydrodynamics Draft ABSTRACT Liquid metal Galinstan (GaInSn) is corrosive in nature against other solid metals as its base component is gallium. This study experimentally investigated the compatibility of GaInSn with eight common metals at temperatures up to 200 °C for 2000 hours, including aluminum, copper, brass, ferritic and austenitic stainless steels (E-brite, SS304L, SS316L) and nickel-chromium alloys (Inconel and Hastelloy). This assessment aims to assist in design and material selection of a liquid metal magnetohydrodynamics system that houses Galinstan for power generation by low temperature natural heat sources or industrial waste heat. Design and fabrication of this renewable power system required assurance of material compatibility with common construction and instrumentation materials. The most severe corrosion effects of GaInSn on the metal alloys were observed on aluminum, copper and brass, which confirms the results of previously conducted studies. No obvious corrosion on stainless steel or nickel-chromium alloys were observed by this https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjc-pubs Page 3 of 31 Canadian Journal of Chemistry study, which reveals that stainless steel has a good resistance to attack by GaInSn up to 200 °C. Six non-metals were also evaluated, including acronitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), acrylic, nitrile rubber (Buna N), nylon, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and Teflon, which were deemed to be compatible with GaInSn up to the temperatures tested. 1 INTRODUCTION Galinstan (GaInSn) is a non-toxic liquid metal, a eutectic alloy of gallium (Ga), indium (In), and tin (Sn). The composition of GaInSn was patented in 2000 and its melting temperature was claimed to be about -19.5 °C under normal pressure and atmospheric conditions, and its vaporization point was reported to be above 1800 °C [1]. With a reported melting temperature above 0 °C [2, 3] many GaInSn alloys retain their liquid state at Draftroom temperature. GaInSn has a very low vapour pressure and will not evolve any respirable metal vapour at room conditions, which generally makes GaInSn safe to use.[4, 5] GaInSn is most commonly used as a replacement for toxic mercury in thermometers. Table 1 compares the physical properties of gallium and gallium alloys including GaInSn with reference to mercury. Table 1. Physical properties of mercury, gallium and gallium alloys. [5, 6] Property Mercury Gallium Ga75.5In24.5 Ga67In20.5Sn12.5 Ga61In25Sn13Zn1 melting point, °C -38.8 29.8 15.5 10.5 7.6 boiling point, °C 357 2204 2000 > 1300 > 900 density, kg/m3 13530 6080 6280 6360 6500 electrical 1.0 x 106 3.7 x 106 3.4 x 106 3.1 x 106 2.8 x 106 conductivity, Ω-1m-1 thermal conductivity 8.5 29.3 26.6 16.5 unk. (W/m/K) kinematic viscosity, 13.5 x 10-7 3.24 x 10-7 2.7 x 10-7 2.98 x 10-7a 7.11 x 10-8 m2/s (a) surface tension, N/m 0.5 0.7 0.624 0.533b 0.5 water compatibility Soluble Insoluble Insoluble Insoluble Insoluble Notes:(a): Measurements with a glass viscometer tube are typically closer to 4.0 x 10-7 m2/s N. (b): Measurements indicate that oxides can significantly reduce surface tension https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjc-pubs Canadian Journal of Chemistry Page 4 of 31 Thermal conductivity data from Liu et al. 2018 [6]. Remainder of data reproduced from Morley, N.B., Burris, J.; Cadwallader, L.C.; Nornberg, M.D. GaInSn usage in the research laboratory, Review of scientific instruments, vol. 79, pp. 056107-1-056107-3, 2008, with the permission of AIP Publishing. Since GaInSn remains in a liquid state over quite a wide temperature range, some researchers have investigated its properties and explored its industrial uses for a range of applications. It was found that GaInSn is a very good heat transfer fluid with a high heat transfer coefficient. The most recent published reports on the use of GaInSn are in the microscopic domain, for miniaturization and deformability of microelectronic devices at or near room temperature.[7] Some examples include GaInSn magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) micro-pump for micro-cooling[8], electromechanical relays[9] and GaInSn droplet based integrated liquid cooling systems [10]. Other emerging applications such as soft electrodesDraft and sensors, flexible and stretchable electronics, reconfigurable filters and antennae, stretchable conductive fibres, bio-devices, and low temperature bonding methods in electronic packaging have also been reported.[6,7,11] In the macroscopic domain, GaInSn was proposed for use as a coolant for high temperature nuclear fusion reactors.[4, 5, 12] It was also proposed to use GaInSn as heat transfer fluid for concentrated solar power that will need to work at higher temperatures (i.e., > 900 °C).[13, 14] In addition, GaInSn is often used as a substitute for other liquid metals in experimental studies. The properties of GaInSn also make it an attractive option for a low temperature magnetohydrodynamic (LTMHD) power generation system to work as a means of low temperature waste heat to power (LTWHP), which is the study of this research project. In LTMHD systems (or liquid metal MHD systems) a highly conductive fluid is passed through a permanent magnet generator, and the power produced is proportional to the fluid’s conductivity, velocity, magnetic field strength, and the generator geometry. Previous work showed promising results and successfully proved the concept. Methods to induce fluid flow include gas-lift type devices[15] and more recently wave energy https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjc-pubs Page 5 of 31 Canadian Journal of Chemistry systems.[16] This type of LTWHP system features low temperature waste heat recovery and power generation with zero greenhouse gas emissions. The low temperature waste heat could come from a variety of sources, including industrial processes, and low temperature solar or geothermal heat. Many early liquid metal MHD systems used mercury as the conductive fluid but today, the non- toxic option GaInSn has emerged and could improve the viability of the technology. CanmetENERGY is currently building a gas-lift type MHD power system, and to do so, better data concerning the compatibility of GaInSn with other materials is required. As GaInSn is a relatively new alloy, published reports and articles specifically detailing its compatibility with common materials is limited. Studies on material interactions of pure gallium Ga or the binary alloy Gallium–Indium (GaIn) are however available. Gallium, the main element in GaInSn, has been found to be corrosive and was reportedDraft widely to cause the embrittlement of aluminum.[17] It was found that gallium attacked 316 L austenitic stainless steel and 1.4914 martensitic steel at a temperature of 400 °C.[18] A tensile test conducted at 300 °C showed that gallium did not embrittle type 316 stainless steel, but tests at room temperature showed that gallium did cause a slight decrease in ductility.[19] The compatibility