Influence of pre-oxidation on the hot corrosion of Ti3SiC2 in the mixture of Na2SO4-NaCl melts

Polycrystalline Ti₃SiC₂ suffered from serious hot corrosion attack in the mixture of 75wt.%Na₂SO₄ + 25wt.%NaCl melts at 850 °C. In order to improve the hot corrosion resistance of this material, pre-oxidation treatment was conducted at 1200 °C in air for 2 h. A duplex oxide scale with an outer layer of TiO₂ and an inner layer of a mixture of TiO₂ and SiO₂ was formed during the pre-oxidation. Because the outer oxide layer of the pre-oxidation treated specimens could inhibit hot corrosion process, they exhibited good hot corrosion resistance in the mixture of 75wt.%Na₂SO₄ + 25wt.%NaCl melts at 850 °C for 50 h. However, during the hot corrosion the outer layer of TiO₂ would degrade gradually. Once the outer layer damaged, the hot corrosion rate increased sharply, the corrosion behavior was similar to Ti₃SiC₂ corroded under the same conditions. The microstructure and phase compositions of the hot corrosion samples were investigated by SEM/EDS and XRD.