Quantification of growth kinetics and adherence of oxide scales formed on Ni-based superalloys at high temperature

Cyclic and isothermal oxidation behaviors of first and fourth-generation superalloys AM1 and MCNG were investigated to evaluate the ability of the scratch test to quantify the adhesion of multi-layered oxide scales. Effects of sulfur content and of scale thickness were studied independently. Available models lead to large discrepancies in the calculated work of adhesion values with the evaluation of the residual stress being the largest source of error. Nevertheless, models can assess the effect of sulfur content and the scratch test can be used to correlate the long-term cyclic oxidation behavior and the adhesion of oxide scales.

Research highlights
► Isothermal and cyclic oxidation kinetics of superalloys AM1 and MCNG.
► Effect of S on isothermal and cyclic oxidation kinetics of superalloys.
► Measurement of S effect using scratch test.
► Evaluation of scratch test to measure adhesion energy of thermally grown oxide scales.