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.