《Kinetics of High Temperature Oxidation and Chromia Volatilization for a Binary Ni–Cr Alloy》.pdf

Oxidation of Metals, Vol. 64, Nos. 3/4, October 2005 (© 2005) DOI: 10.1007/s11085-005-6562-8 Kinetics of High Temperature Oxidation and Chromia Volatilization for a Binary Ni–Cr Alloy P. Berthod∗‡ Received November 1, 2004; revised April 21, 2005 The volatilization of the external chromia layer formed by oxidation of a Ni–30Cr alloy was studied at 1000, 1100, 1200 and 1300◦ C. This was done by analyzing the mass gain curves obtained by thermogravimetry on the basis of the differential equation that describes the oxidation kinetic, taking into account at each step the loss of Cr O oxidized again into gaseous CrO . 2 3 3 The quantification of the parabolic constant and the volatilization constant was done by drawing m · dm = Kp − Kv ·m. This led to the values of both Kp dt and Kv for the four tested temperatures. These were compared to chromium balance sheets obtained by measuring the thicknesses of the chromia layer and chromium depletion in the alloy. A good agreement was found between the two methods. They both follow an Arrhenius law and precise values of the two constants are provided. KEY WORDS: nickel alloys; high temperature oxidation. INTRODUCTION When exposed to air at high temperature, chromium-containing alloys are covered by an external Cr2 O3 layer which protects them against rapid oxi- dation.1 Indeed, the progress of oxidation is then controlled by outwards Cr cation diffusion (or inwards oxygen anion diffusion) through this exist- ing chromia scale. Cr2 O3 is a stoechiometric oxide, therefore this diffusion is particularly low. Thus, chromia acts as an efficient prot