in a laboratory experiment , a sol was produced by converting an alkoxide precursor into the sol state by dissolving it in n - propanol and water . the synthesis took place at room temperature , under atmospheric pressure and at a ph of between 4 and 4 . 5 , which was set by adding acetic acid . the sol concentration was between 0 . 2 mol and 0 . 5 mol . the precursor , i . e . the “ zirconium source ” used was zirconium tetra - n - propoxide ( zr ( oc 3 h 7 ) 4 ). the acetic acid also serves as a condensation catalyst . it can also contribute to the complex formation . the water was added to the solution dropwise with stirring . the sol can also be produced by using zirconium tetra - iso - propoxide as alkoxide precursor and dissolving it in isopropanol and water . the use of zirconium tetra - n - propoxide and n - propanol is preferred , since this results in a particularly high stability of the alkoxide precursor in the solution . this is because metal alkoxides are often water - sensitive , and in particular zirconium oxide has a low solubility in water . if water is added too quickly or too much water is added , the metal alkoxides or corresponding metal hydroxides are precipitated . these drawbacks are reduced — in particular for large - scale industrial application — if zirconium tetra - n - propoxide and n - propanol are used . in the laboratory experiment , various stainless - steel components as specimens ( 20 mm × 10 mm × 3 mm ) were introduced into a vessel which had been filled with the sol . the components that were used consisted of sensitized austenitic chromium - nickel steel with the steel number 1 . 4550 of the following exemplary composition , in % by weight : fe 69 . 05 %, c 0 . 075 %, si 0 . 52 %, mn 1 . 17 %, p 0 . 027 %, s 0 . 024 %, cr 17 . 85 %, ni 10 . 50 %, nb 0 . 78 %. a steel of this type is intended for use in the system of lines of a nuclear power plant . the components were used in preoxidized form , i . e ., in a similar way to under standard reactor operating conditions , a thin , stable iron - nickel - chromium oxide layer ( native oxide layer ) was formed . this layer may form , for example , as a result of oxidation for 300 hours with an o 2 concentration of 8 ppm and at 280 ° c . in the nuclear power plant , an oxide layer of this type is formed during reactor operation on account of the high cooling - water temperature and the oxidizing agents which are formed during operation . the components were wetted with the sol . the sol level in the bath was then lowered at a rate of 1 cm / min . the rate at which the sol level is reduced may also be 10 cm / min or more , in particular up to 100 cm / min . the higher the drainage rate , the thicker the liquid or sol film produced . a high drainage rate is preferred for large - scale industrial application in a nuclear power plant , since in this way maintenance time can be reduced . after the sol bath has been drained out of the vessel into which the components were introduced , the sol film remaining on the components was dried . the drying of the sol film and the removal of its organic constituents during the drying are of crucial importance to the quality of the resulting zirconium oxide protective layer ( zro 2 ). if heating is very slow and careful , the sol film can fully react uniformly and can release its reaction products homogeneously . a number of variants were tried for the drying of the sol film . of these , the following procedure has proven particularly advantageous : a ) drying of the sol film on the component in the vessel after drainage of the sol over a period of at least 12 hours . b ) followed by drying of the component for two hours at 60 ° c . in air ( air recirculation furnace ). c ) further raising of the temperature in steps , in the following stages : 80 ° c . for two hours , 100 ° c . for two hours , 110 ° c . for 30 minutes , 120 ° c . for 30 minutes , 130 ° c . for 30 minutes , 140 ° c . for 30 minutes , 150 ° c . for 30 minutes , 160 ° c . for 30 minutes , 170 ° c . for 30 minutes , 180 ° c . for 30 minutes , 190 ° c . for 30 minutes , 200 ° c . for 30 minutes , 210 ° c . for 30 minutes , 220 ° c . for 24 hours . the above - mentioned very slow and careful drying and heating treatment means that there is sufficient time for condensation reactions to take place in the film and for the organic solution constituents to be released . as a result , a high film quality is achieved , without any internal stresses and without the formation of cracks . overall , the drying and heating phase using the parameters described lasts approximately 48 hours . for large - scale industrial application in nuclear power plants , this phase can be reduced by approximately half . in the case of heat treatment below 250 ° c ., it may be the case that the zirconium in the film does not completely crystallize in the form of zirconium oxide ( zro 2 ). it is possible that the zirconium oxide film may then still be partially amorphous and under certain circumstances may also still contain organic constituents . however , as measurements have shown , this does not play a significant role in terms of its protective quality . the electrode properties of components which have been treated in the manner described or in a similar manner are very similar to those of zirconium alloys . to demonstrate this , the polarization of coated components in fe + 2 / fe + 3 hexacyanoferrate solution was measured in a test method . the result of this measurement is shown in fig2 . corresponding reference curves are shown in fig1 . in the testing process , which is known per se , a charge transfer takes place from the solution to a specimen which is connected as an electrode . the specimen is either a coated component or a reference component . the charge transfer is significantly influenced by the electrical conduction properties of an oxide film which may have formed on the component and represents a measure of the quality of the coating . referring now in this context to the figures of the drawing in detail and first , particularly , to fig1 thereof , it can be seen from a first reference measurement a carried out on platinum that no oxide layer which impedes the charge transfer has been formed . it can be seen from the two further reference measurements b for chromium - nickel steel 1 . 4550 and c for sensitized chromium - nickel steel 1 . 4550 that semiconducting oxides are present on these uncoated steel specimens . in the case of a fourth reference measurement d illustrated in fig1 , which was carried out using a zirconium alloy ( zircaloy ), there is a zirconium oxide film ( zro 2 ) which is an insulator . the charge transfer from the solution to the electrode is almost completely suppressed . the quality of the zro 2 protective layers which have been produced on steel using the method according to the invention is documented by means of the measurement curves plotted in fig2 . the reference curve c for sensitized chromium - nickel steel 1 . 4550 and the reference curve d for zircaloy , which have already been shown in fig1 , are plotted again in this fig2 to facilitate comparison . moreover , four further measurement curves e , f , g , h relating to component specimens on which a zirconium oxide protective layer has been produced using the abovementioned sol - gel process are plotted in this figure . in detail , these measurements were carried out on the following component specimens : e : single - layered protective layer ( zirconium oxide coating ), 0 . 2 molar coating solution with ph 4 . 5 f : single - layered protective layer ( zirconium oxide coating ), 0 . 5 molar coating solution with ph 4 . 1 g : five - layered protective layer ( zirconium oxide coating ), 0 . 5 molar coating solution with ph 4 . 1 h : five - layered protective layer ( zirconium oxide coating ), 0 . 2 molar coating solution with ph 4 . 5 . with reference to fig2 , the measurement curves e , f , g , h for zirconium oxide coatings on steel are very close to the reference curve d for a zircaloy electrode . the measurement curve h corresponding to a five - layered coating and a 0 . 2 molar zirconium sol is even virtually congruent with the reference curve d for zircaloy and is therefore difficult to actually differentiate therefrom in fig2 . the measurements show that the thin zirconium oxide film formed — with an estimated thickness in the region of approximately 50 nm — protects the stainless - steel component specimens in the desired way . the polarization resistance measurements showed that a high ph in the sol increases the quality of the protective layer produced . on the other hand , it is found that a very high thickness of the protective layer produced no longer significantly improves the corrosion resistance of a component compared to a lower layer thickness . the sol - gel process which was tested on a laboratory scale can be carried out , for example , when a nuclear power plant installation , e . g . a light water reactor , is in the shut - down state , after the reactor coolant has been removed and the component surfaces have been dried . the sol can then be applied , for example , to the inner surface of a reactor pressure vessel 1 by being sprayed on , as illustrated diagrammatically in fig3 . for this purpose , a manipulator mast 3 is introduced into the interior 5 from above and sol s is sprayed onto the inner surface from a spray head 7 which is secured to the end of this mast . to minimize the consumption of sol , excess sol which runs down the inner surface can be collected and returned to the spray head 7 . after all the desired areas have been sprayed , the drying of the sol film applied begins , in particular as described above . another variant for application of the sol is sketched in fig4 . a displacement body 11 which is roughly matched to the inner contour of the reactor pressure vessel 1 , is designed as a rubber balloon and is filled with air l , is introduced into the interior 5 of the reactor pressure vessel 1 . to compensate for its buoyancy , it is fixed to the reactor pressure vessel 1 by means of fixing elements 10 . the sol s is introduced into a space 12 between the displacement body 11 and the inner surface of the reactor pressure vessel 1 up to a level 17 . the space 12 has a width of less than 0 . 5 m . cooling circuit connection stubs 13 which are present are for this purpose each sealed by means of a closure element 15 . after an action time of less than one hour , the sol s is drained out at a constant rate and the displacement body 11 is removed . the drying of the applied sol film then begins , in particular as described above . after drying has been completed , the cooling water can be introduced back into the reactor pressure vessel 1 and reactor operation can resume . in the examples shown in fig3 and 4 , the reactor pressure vessel 1 as the component which is to be coated may also be produced from a ferritic fine - grain structural steel , e . g . 22nimocr 37 . the component may be provided with an austenitic plating . the component may also be produced from ti - stabilized austenite 1 . 4541 ( x6crniti189 ) or from nb - stabilized steel 1 . 4550 ( x6crninb189 ) or from unstabilized austenite ( e . g . us grade a 304 ). the discovery that the heat treatment or drying can be carried out at very low temperatures , e . g . even as low as 50 ° c . to 60 ° c ., is of considerable importance for large - scale industrial implementation of the sol - gel process in the circuit system of a nuclear power plant . the process can even be carried out at temperatures of around 20 ° c . this even makes it possible to dispense with a drying furnace , wherein only relatively small components can be coated , whereas a pipeline system installed on site or , for example , a reactor pressure vessel cannot be coated therein . for cost - effective large - scale industrial implementation , the use of zirconium tetra - n - propoxide , which is significantly less expensive than zirconium tetra - iso - propoxide , also plays a role .