CoUPLE: Development of a Versatile Facility and Experimental Roadmap for Characterization of Corrosion of Blanket Materials in Flowing PbLi Under Magnetic Field

Sergey Smolentsev; Sunday Aduloju; Larry Baylor; Earl Burkhardt; Yuqiao Fan; Yuchen Jiang; Marie Romedenne

doi:10.1109/TPS.2026.3665387

CoUPLE: Development of a Versatile Facility and Experimental Roadmap for Characterization of Corrosion of Blanket Materials in Flowing PbLi Under Magnetic Field

Sergey Smolentsev
, Sunday Aduloju
, Larry Baylor
, Earl Burkhardt
, Yuqiao Fan
, Yuchen Jiang
, Marie Romedenne

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Eutectic lead–lithium (PbLi) alloy is the most promising candidate for liquid tritium breeder material in the blanket of a fusion power reactor. Corrosion of structural blanket steels in the flowing PbLi in the presence of a strong plasma-confining magnetic field and volumetric heating is among the most serious limitations in the design of a robust breeding blanket system. Anew flowing PbLi corrosion loop called Corrosion Upgrade PbLi Experiment (CoUPLE) with a magnetic field and surface heating of the test-section is under development at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The proposed ORNL PbLi loop will reach prototypical blanket conditions (PbLi temperature up to 650 °C, velocity up to 20cm/s, magnetic field up to 4 T) and be able to show the corrosion performance of candidate structural steels and functional electroinsulating materials and establish their corrosion mitigation. The developed computational model in COMSOL Multiphysics is used in this study as a design tool and also for the pre-experimental analysis to plan future experiments on corrosion/precipitation and help in the design and analysis of real blanket systems.

Original language	English
Journal	IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/TPS.2026.3665387
State	Accepted/In press - 2026

Funding

Rdve 1 August 2025; visedre 26 Nrvo 2025; accepted 8 December 2025. This orkw asw supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Dtve Program of Oak Ridge National L,a Managed by UT-B, LLC, for U.S. Department of E.gn The wviere of this article asw arranged by Senior Editor M. K.vo Sergey Smolentsev.) The authors are with Oak Ridge National L,a Oak Ridge, TN 37830 USA (e-mail: [email protected] v; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] v; [email protected] v; jiangy@ ornl.gov; [email protected]). Color ersionsv of one in this article are ailableva at //doi.org /10.1109/TPS.2026.3665387.

Keywords

Breeding blanket
corrosion
forced flow loop
lead–lithium breeder
liquid-metal magnetohydrodynamics
magnetic field
redeposition

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10.1109/TPS.2026.3665387

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title = "CoUPLE: Development of a Versatile Facility and Experimental Roadmap for Characterization of Corrosion of Blanket Materials in Flowing PbLi Under Magnetic Field",

abstract = "Eutectic lead–lithium (PbLi) alloy is the most promising candidate for liquid tritium breeder material in the blanket of a fusion power reactor. Corrosion of structural blanket steels in the flowing PbLi in the presence of a strong plasma-confining magnetic field and volumetric heating is among the most serious limitations in the design of a robust breeding blanket system. Anew flowing PbLi corrosion loop called Corrosion Upgrade PbLi Experiment (CoUPLE) with a magnetic field and surface heating of the test-section is under development at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The proposed ORNL PbLi loop will reach prototypical blanket conditions (PbLi temperature up to 650 °C, velocity up to 20cm/s, magnetic field up to 4 T) and be able to show the corrosion performance of candidate structural steels and functional electroinsulating materials and establish their corrosion mitigation. The developed computational model in COMSOL Multiphysics is used in this study as a design tool and also for the pre-experimental analysis to plan future experiments on corrosion/precipitation and help in the design and analysis of real blanket systems.",

keywords = "Breeding blanket, corrosion, forced flow loop, lead–lithium breeder, liquid-metal magnetohydrodynamics, magnetic field, redeposition",

author = "Sergey Smolentsev and Sunday Aduloju and Larry Baylor and Earl Burkhardt and Yuqiao Fan and Yuchen Jiang and Marie Romedenne",

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year = "2026",

doi = "10.1109/TPS.2026.3665387",

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AU - Smolentsev, Sergey

AU - Aduloju, Sunday

AU - Baylor, Larry

AU - Burkhardt, Earl

AU - Fan, Yuqiao

AU - Jiang, Yuchen

AU - Romedenne, Marie

PY - 2026

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N2 - Eutectic lead–lithium (PbLi) alloy is the most promising candidate for liquid tritium breeder material in the blanket of a fusion power reactor. Corrosion of structural blanket steels in the flowing PbLi in the presence of a strong plasma-confining magnetic field and volumetric heating is among the most serious limitations in the design of a robust breeding blanket system. Anew flowing PbLi corrosion loop called Corrosion Upgrade PbLi Experiment (CoUPLE) with a magnetic field and surface heating of the test-section is under development at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The proposed ORNL PbLi loop will reach prototypical blanket conditions (PbLi temperature up to 650 °C, velocity up to 20cm/s, magnetic field up to 4 T) and be able to show the corrosion performance of candidate structural steels and functional electroinsulating materials and establish their corrosion mitigation. The developed computational model in COMSOL Multiphysics is used in this study as a design tool and also for the pre-experimental analysis to plan future experiments on corrosion/precipitation and help in the design and analysis of real blanket systems.

AB - Eutectic lead–lithium (PbLi) alloy is the most promising candidate for liquid tritium breeder material in the blanket of a fusion power reactor. Corrosion of structural blanket steels in the flowing PbLi in the presence of a strong plasma-confining magnetic field and volumetric heating is among the most serious limitations in the design of a robust breeding blanket system. Anew flowing PbLi corrosion loop called Corrosion Upgrade PbLi Experiment (CoUPLE) with a magnetic field and surface heating of the test-section is under development at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The proposed ORNL PbLi loop will reach prototypical blanket conditions (PbLi temperature up to 650 °C, velocity up to 20cm/s, magnetic field up to 4 T) and be able to show the corrosion performance of candidate structural steels and functional electroinsulating materials and establish their corrosion mitigation. The developed computational model in COMSOL Multiphysics is used in this study as a design tool and also for the pre-experimental analysis to plan future experiments on corrosion/precipitation and help in the design and analysis of real blanket systems.

KW - Breeding blanket

KW - corrosion

KW - forced flow loop

KW - lead–lithium breeder

KW - liquid-metal magnetohydrodynamics

KW - magnetic field

KW - redeposition

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DO - 10.1109/TPS.2026.3665387

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105031922234

SN - 0093-3813

JO - IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science

JF - IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science

ER -

CoUPLE: Development of a Versatile Facility and Experimental Roadmap for Characterization of Corrosion of Blanket Materials in Flowing PbLi Under Magnetic Field

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