Hot Corrosion Studies of HVOF-Sprayed Coating on T-91 Boiler Tube Steel at Different Operating Temperatures

The aim of the present work is to investigate the usefulness of high velocity oxy fuel-sprayed 75% Cr₃C₂-25% (Ni-20Cr) coating to control hot corrosion of T-91 boiler tube steel at different operating temperatures viz 550, 700, and 850 °C. The deposited coatings on the substrates exhibit nearly uniform, adherent and dense microstructure with porosity less than 2%. Thermogravimetry technique is used to study the high temperature hot corrosion behavior of uncoated and coated samples. The corrosion products of the coating on the substrate are analyzed by using XRD, SEM, and FE-SEM/EDAX to reveal their microstructural and compositional features for the corrosion mechanisms. It is found that the coated specimens have shown minimum weight gain at all the operating temperatures when compared with uncoated T-91 samples. Hence, coating is effective in decreasing the corrosion rate in the given molten salt environment. Oxides and spinels of nickel-chromium may be the reason for successful resistance against hot corrosion.