Oxidation of Sintered Refractory Alloy (Ni3Al)

Abstract

Ni3Al is a superalloy which is of particular interest at high temperatures due to its high resistance to oxidation with the formation of a protective oxide layer that performs better than NiO and Cr2O3. Among the factors likely to affect the reaction mechanism and modification of the oxidation kinetics, the surface state appears to be a very important parameter. In the case of sintered materials, the surface condition will be linked to the porosity of the material and therefore to densification. This work essentially has two parts. The first consists of developing Ni3Al sinters intended for oxidation, studying the densification mechanisms and bringing together the results obtained by dilatometry at variable temperature and by differential thermal analysis which made it possible to demonstrate sintering in a reactive liquid phase extremely fast SHS type, with instantaneous formation of the Ni3Al phase. The second part is devoted to the isothermal oxidation between 1100 and 1350°C of cubic-shaped sinters (4mm edge) under a flow of oxygen for 24 hours. The shape of the parabolic curves is correlated with morphological and microstructural observations to deduce the diffusional kinetic regime which controls the speed of the reaction. On the other hand, these observations highlighted a very strong adhesion due to the indentations of the Al2O3 oxide in the metal at the oxide/metal interface. Various techniques (Density – XRD – SEM and Microanalysis) to characterize the sinters and the oxidation products complete our study.