High temperature corrosion behavior of a multilayer CrAlN coating prepared by magnetron sputtering method on a K38G alloy

A multilayer CrAlN coating of Cr_0.58Al_0.42N/Cr_0.84Al_0.16N/Cr_0.51Al_0.49N has been fabricated by a reactive magnetron sputtering method. It consists of a bonding layer, a Cr-rich intermediate layer and an Al-rich outer layer. The multilayer structure provides the coating with good protection against different types of high temperature corrosion, i.e., high temperature oxidation and hot corrosion. The outer Al-rich layer gives the coating good oxidation resistance at 1000 and 1100 °C due to the formation of a continuous alumina scale. The parabolic rate constants of the coated samples decrease by about 2 orders of magnitude compared with that of the bare alloy samples. The intermediate Cr-rich layer can form a Cr₂O₃ scale to provide good protection under the hot corrosion conditions in the Na₂SO₄ salt fluxing at 900, 950 and 1000 °C. The incubation period of the hot corrosion extends several times longer when the alloy was coated by the multilayer coating at the three selected temperatures.