Investigation of element effect on high-temperature oxidation of HVOF NiCoCrAlX coatings

Abstract

MCrAlX (M: Ni or Co or both, X: minor elements) coatings have been used widely to protect hot components in gas turbines against oxidation and heat corrosion at high temperatures. Understanding the influence of the X-elements on oxidation behavior is important in the design of durable MCrAlX coatings. In this study, NiCoCrAlX coatings doped with Y + Ru and Ce, respectively, were deposited on an Inconel-792 substrate using high velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF). The samples were subjected to isothermal oxidation tests in laboratory air at 900, 1000, and 1100 °C and a cyclic oxidation test between 100 and 1100 °C with a 1-h dwell time at 1100 °C. It was observed that the coating with Ce showed a much higher oxidation rate than the coating with Y + Ru under both isothermal and cyclic oxidation tests. In addition, the Y + Ru-doped coating showed significantly lower β phase depletion due to interdiffusion between the coating and the substrate, resulting from the addition of Ru. Simulation results using a moving phase boundary model and an established oxidation-diffusion model showed that Ru stabilized β grains, which reduced β-depletion of the coating due to substrate interdiffusion. This paper, combining experiment and simulation results, presents a comprehensive study of the influence of Ce and Ru on oxidation behavior, including an investigation of the microstructure evolution in the coating surface and the coating-substrate interface influenced by oxidation time.