The corrosion of steels in liquid metal lead （Pb） and bismuth （Bi） is a critical challenge in the development of accel-erator driven systems （ADS）. Using a first-principles method with a slab model, we theoretically investigate the interaction between the Pb （Bi） atom and the iron （Fe） （100） surface to assess the fundamental corrosion properties. Our investigation demonstrates that both Pb and Bi atoms favorably adsorb on the （100） surface. Such an adsorption decreases the energy required for the dissociation of an Fe atom from the surface, enhancing the dissolution tendency significantly. The seg- regation of six common alloying elements （Cr, A1, Mn, Ni, Nb, and Si） to the surface and their impacts on the corrosion properties are also considered. The present results reveal that Si seems to have a relatively good performance to stabilize the surface and alleviate the dissolving trend caused by Pb and Bi.
We investigate the segregation behavior of alloying atoms （Sr, Th, In, Cd, Ag, Sc, Au, Zn, Cu, Mn, Cr, and Ti） near Z3 （ 111 ） [1]-0] tilt symmetric grain boundary （GB） in tungsten and their effects on the intergranular embrittlement by performing first-principles calculations. The calculated segregation energies suggest that Ag, Au, Cd, In, Sc, Sr, Th, and Ti prefer to occupy the site in the mirror plane of the GB, while Cu, Cr, Mn, and Zn intend to locate at the first layer nearby the GB core. The calculated strengthening energies predict Sr, Th, In, Cd, Ag, Sc, Au, Ti, and Zn act as embrittlers while Cu, Cr, and Mn act as cohesion enhancers. The correlation of the alloying atom＇s metal radius with strengthening energy is strong enough to predict the strengthening and embrittling behavior of alloying atoms; that is, the alloying atom with larger metal radius than W acts as an embrittler and the one with smaller metal radius acts as a cohesion enhancer.
