A direct comparative study of the corrosion behaviour of Si-free and Si-rich slurry aluminide coatings in molten carbonate melts

This study is focused on the evaluation of the hot corrosion behaviour of two low-cost slurry aluminide coatings with and without Si addition deposited on ferritic-martensitic steels, comparing them with uncoated steel, after 1000-h of exposure to Li, K, Na molten carbonates at 650ºC, under static and dynamic conditions with a high linear velocity (1.3 m/s). Both coatings evidenced a high performance increase in comparison with uncoated substrates after exposure in both conditions. Both coatings behaved in a similar way according to the gravimetric results. However, after dynamic exposure, the Si-free aluminide maintained its morphology and composition after 1000 h with α-LiAlO2 as the only corrosion product while the Si-rich coating showed a higher attack extent in the outer part and developed a large quantity of voids at the coating/substrate interface, leading to substrate corrosion.