Corrosion experiments of 9Cr-ODS steel were carried out in static Li at 873 K for 250 h and compared
with those of 9Cr-ODS in Pb–Li at the same exposure conditions. After exposure to liquid Li, 9Cr-ODS
showed slight weight loss and decrease in hardness near surface. The tensile property exhibited a negli-gible change at 973 K and the creep property degraded at 973 K. By metallurgical analyses, 9Cr-ODS dem-onstrated a non-uniform corrosion behavior by preferential grain boundary attack and pronounced
nodule-like morphology. The slight depletion of Cr was detected to about 15lm in depth by chemical
composition analyses. According to the calculation of free energy of formation, the nano-scale oxide par-ticles of TiO2in 9Cr-ODS were thermodynamically less stable while Y2O3were more stable compared
with those of Li2O in Li environment. However, Y2O3may be reacted with Li to form YLiO2. The mecha-nism of corrosion was proposed as the slight dissolution of Cr and Fe in matrix into liquid Li, chemical
interaction of nano-scale oxide particles with Li, preferential grain boundary attack and penetration of
Li, and finally development of extreme nodule-like structure during cleaning of Li. On the contrary,
9Cr-ODS showed much larger weight loss and depletion of Cr near surface but less marked corroded mor-phology in Pb–Li than in Li, which may be derived from higher solubility of Cr and Fe and lower activity of
Li in Pb–Li than in Li.
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