Stephen W. Banovic, Metallurgy Division, MSEL
John N. DuPont, and A.R. Marder, Department of Materials
Science and Engineering, Lehigh University
Weld overlay coatings are typically used to protect existing low alloy
steel water-wall panels from accelerated sulfidation attack in fossil-fired
boilers with advanced low NOx burners. A material system
presently under consideration for use as a cladding is Fe-Al. Previous
corrosion studies in very aggressive oxidizing/sulfidizing gaseous environments
at high temperatures have shown intermetallic compositions (with Al mass
fraction > 10 %) to perform well. However, these high aluminum content
alloys cannot be readily applied as weld overlays due to hydrogen cracking
susceptibility. Moreover, the lower aluminum alloys, which are weldable,
lack the detailed corrosion studies in mixed gas compositions considered
necessary in order for them to be commercially installed. Therefore,
to permit use of weldable Fe-Al deposits as protective coatings, investigation
of their corrosion behavior was initiated in environments representative
of low NOx gas conditions (i.e., low partial pressures of O2,
high partial pressures of S2, moderate temperatures).
Through an integrated experimental approach involving thermogravimetric
techniques, post-exposure metallographic examination of the corroded samples,
and detailed chemical microanalyses of the reaction scales, the corrosion
behavior of the alloys was described as a function of the aluminum content
(Al mass fraction ranging from 0 % to 12.5 %) and temperature (500 °C
to 700 °C).