Hot corrosion behavior of NiCoCrAlY laser cladding coating on 17-4PH stainless steel before and after high-current pulsed electron beam irradiation

In this study, we employed high-current pulsed electron beam technology (HCPEB) to modify NiCoCrAlY coatings that were created via laser cladding on 17-4PH stainless steel. We compared and analyzed the hot corrosion behavior of the coatings before and after HCPEB irradiation using a molten salt of 75 wt. %Na2SO4 + 25 wt. %NaCl at 700 °C. We also elucidated the mechanism by which irradiation affects the hot corrosion performance of the coatings. Our findings demonstrate that the irradiated coating surface exhibited a dense remelting layer, which effectively prevented erosion by oxygen and molten salt, without any internal oxidation corrosion. Moreover, irradiation refined the grains on the coating surface and increased the diffusion rate of grain boundaries. Consequently, the irradiated coating formed laminated thermal growth oxides (TGO) during the hot corrosion process, with the interface between the TGO and the coating always covered by an Al2O3 layer. This TGO structure provided excellent protection, reduced the corrosion weight gain, and corrosion rate of the coating, and significantly improved the hot corrosion performance of the coating.