Tensile stress and creep in thermally grown oxide

Structural components that operate at high temperatures (for example, turbine blades) rely on thermally grown oxide (TGO), commonly alumina, for corrosion protection. Strains that develop in TGOs during operation can reduce the protectiveness of the TGO. However, the occurrence of growth strains in TGOs, and mechanisms that cause them, are poorly understood. It is accepted that compressive strains can develop as oxygen and metal atoms meet to form new growth within constrained oxide. More controversial is the experimental finding that large tensile stresses, close to 1 GPa, develop during isothermal growth conditions in alumina TGO formed on a FeCrAlY alloy. Using a novel technique based on synchrotron radiation, we have confirmed these previous results, and show that the tensile strain develops as the early oxide, (Fe,Cr,Al)(2)O(3), converts to alpha-Al2O3 during the growth process. This allows us to model the strain behaviour by including creep and this diffusion-controlled phase change.