Deposition process of slurry iron aluminide coatings

Abstract

Diffusion iron aluminide coatings prevent steam oxidation of ferritic/austenitic steels at 650°C for at least 45,000 h. These coatings are deposited by applying Al slurries followed by a diffusion heat treatment at 650°C. The quality of the coatings is very sensitive to a number of factors such as surface preparation, slurry composition and diffusion treatment temperature. A study of the effect of the different processing parameters has been performed in order to optimize the process from an industrial perspective. Moreover, most commercially available Al slurries contain different levels of Cr6+, a highly carcinogenic species, and therefore Cr6+ free slurry formulations have been prepared. In addition, re-coating after exposure has also been developed since it is not clear yet if these coatings will last the 100,000 h which is the life limit for steam power plant design. Based on these studies, processes suitable for coating real size components and re-coating steam exposed components have been developed and are presented in this contribution.