Corrosion Behaviour of Ti-48Al-2Nb-2Cr Alloys

Defect and Diffusion Forum 323-325 (2012), 301-307

γ-TiAl intermetallics are attractive materials for high-temperature structural applications in the aerospace and automobile industries. However, they show environmental embrittlement at elevated temperatures that is mainly related to their low high-temperature corrosion resistance. One way how to improve the high-temperature corrosion resistance is the deposition of protective coatings on the surface of the base material. In this study, samples of a Ti-Al alloy with the chemical composition Ti-48Al-2Cr-2Nb (at.%) were covered by physically vapour deposited (PVD), by metalorganic chemically vapour deposited (MOCVD) and by high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) sprayed coatings. All coatings were based on the Ti-Al alloys and contained different amounts of alloying elements. The corrosion experiments were performed in molten salts containing 75 wt.% Na₂SO₄ and 25 wt.% NaCl at 850°C up to 336 h. Both, PVD and CVD protected coatings reduced the changes in the mass of the samples over the corrosion time. Still, the formation of TiO₂ could not be avoided, as it was confirmed by glancing-angle X-ray diffraction experiments.