SiC coating: An alternative for the protection of nuclear graphite from liquid fluoride salt

SiC coating is produced on a nuclear graphite (NG) substrate using chemical vapor deposition at 1150   °C to protect it from molten salt diffusion . Infiltration studies, performed in molten FLiNaK salt under an argon atmosphere at 5   atm, show that uncoated NG exhibits significantly higher weight gain than SiC-coated NG. The continuous and compact SiC coating exhibits excellent infiltration resistance in liquid fluoride salt as confirmed by synchrotron radiation X-ray microbeam fluorescence.