Electrical insulation test of alumina coating fabricated by sol–gel method in molten PbLi pool

Development of electrical insulation coatings, which insulate an induced electric current from electrical conducting walls, is a key technology for the research and development of self-cooled liquid metal blanket including lead–lithium (PbLi) fusion blankets. As for magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) thermofluid study, an electrical insulation coating is extremely important from the viewpoint of the secure electrical insulating wall condition. The present study employs a sol–gel (SG) method to fabricate an Al2O3 coating, and discusses the feasibility of the SG coating as an electrical insulation coating for the PbLi through the electrical insulation test in the molten PbLi pool and the SEM with EDS analysis on the SG coating structure. The present study shows that the SG coating will be a potential electrical insulation coating for PbLi with both the operation time and the temperature limitation.