Performance of MCrAlX coatings : Oxidation, Hot corrosion and Interdiffusion

Sammanfattning: MCrAlY coatings (M=Ni and/or Co) are widely used for the protection of superalloy components against oxidation and hot corrosion in the hot sections of gas turbines. The drive for coating systems to bestow adequate oxidation and corrosion resistance upon the components becomes urgent as an inevitable result of the necessary improvement in engine combustion efficiency and service lifetime. Through the careful design of the composition, MCrAlY coating performance can be optimized to meet the needs under different service conditions and component materials, therefore, “MCrAlX”, with “X” stands for the minor alloying elements, is used to highlight the effect. In the present thesis, the performance of new MCrAlX coatings is investigated with respect to oxidation, hot corrosion and interactions between coating-superalloy substrates.Oxidation of MCrAlX coatings can be generally categorized into initial, steady and close-to-end stages. Coating performance can be affected by various factors at different stages, therefore, experiments were designed by targeting the oxidation stages. Investigation on the initial stage oxidation behavior of MCrAlY coatings with post-deposition surface treatments reveals the different growth mechanisms of alumina scales. Surface treatments significantly reduce the alumina growth rate by suppressing transient alumina development and aiding the early formation of α-Al2O3, which improves the long-term oxidation performance of the coating. Similarly, the modification of minor alloy elements in MCrAlX coatings also serves the purpose. The oxidation behavior of new MCrAlX coatings was investigated at the steady oxidation stage, followed by the microstructure observation, thermodynamic and kinetic simulations. As an alternative reactive element addition of Y, Ce shows a negative effect on the formation of columnar alumina scales of high strain tolerance. In comparison, Fe or Ru addition shows no influence on alumina growth, rather than strengthening the phase stability in the coating and reducing the interdiffusion between coating-substrate through different mechanisms. As the oxidation proceeds to the close-to-end stage, a reliable criterion to estimate the capability of coating to form α-Al2O3 is of great importance to accurately evaluate coating lifetime. A temperature-dependent critical Al-activity criterion was proposed to better predict the formation of a continuous α-Al2O3 scale based on correction of elemental activity using thermodynamic database to replace the empirical Al-concentration based criterion.Severe interdiffusion occurs between coating-substrate during high temperature oxidation, accelerating the degradation of the system. Interdiffusion behavior of diffusion couples of superalloys-MCrAlX coatings were examined. It is highlighted that the recrystallization of superficial layer of the substrate contributes to the secondary reaction zone formation and element interdiffusion controls subsequent zone thickening.Study on Type I hot corrosion behavior of new MCrAlX coatings shows that the addition of Fe has no influence on basic fluxing reactions before severe Al depletion from the coating occurs. Instead, it boosts the “effective” Al supply of coating by shifting the equilibrium concentration of Al in the γ phase to a low Al level. Besides, the pre-mature coating degradation at the coating-substrate interface was due to the fast growth of corrosion products from substrate induced large local volume expansions, resulting in early coating spallation.