Diffusion Enhanced Rumpling Associated with Martensitic Transformation upon Cycling of Aluminide Bond-Coats

Abstract

In this work, β-NiAl aluminide coatings (cubic B2 structure) deposited on a DS substrate have been isothermally as well as cyclically oxidised at 1100°C for up to 240 h to study the diffusion mechanisms associated with the growth of the oxide scales. A 24 h cycle has been shown to promote enhanced Al depletion, thus requiring a sufficient Al flux to maintain a protective oxide scale. Glancing incidence X-ray diffraction (GI-XRD) combined to electron microscopy (FEG-ESEM / EDS) has been carried out to characterize the evolution of the phases induced by the progressive Al depletion into the coating. The results show that upon cycling, specimens undergo significant oxide scale spallation and increased roughness that can be ascribed to both the growth stresses and the phase transformation contribution whereas the coating has barely evolved after 240 h of isothermal exposure. In particular, the martensitic transformation (tetragonal L10 structure) that accompanies thermal cycling was found to be much more significant than the evolution of the γ’-Ni3Al (cubic L12 structure) phase over the same thermal cycle and therefore the B2 to martensite transformation could originate the progressive roughening of the surface. Conversely, upon isothermal exposure, the coating exhibited a typical alumina scale with almost no spallation and the appearance of rumples.