High-Temperature Corrosion of Protective Coatings for Boiler Tubes in Thermal Power Plants

High-temperature corrosion is a serious problem for the water-wall tubes of boilers used in thermal power plants. Oxidation, sulfidation and molten salt corrosion are main corrosion ways.Thereinto, the most severe corrosion occurs in molten salt corrosion environment. Materials rich in oxides formers, such as chromium and aluminum, are needed to resist corrosion in high-temperature and corrosive environment, but processability of such bulk alloys is very limited. High velocity electric arc spraying (HVAS) technology is adopted to produce coatings with high corrosion resistance. By comparison, NiCr (Ni-45Cr-4Ti) is recommended as a promising alloy coating for the water-wall tubes, which can even resist molten salt corrosion attack. In the study of corrosion mechanism, the modern material analysis methods, such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), are used. It is found that the corrosion resistances of NiCr and FeCrAI coatings are much better than that of 20g steel, that the NiCr coatings have the best anti-corrosion properties, and that the NiCr coatings have slightly lower pores than FeCrAI coatings.It is testified that corrosion resistance of coatings is mainly determined by chromium content, and the microstructure of a coating is as important as the chemical composition of the material. In addition, the fracture mechanisms of coatings in the cycle of heating and cooling are put forward. The difference of the thermal physical properties between coatings and base metals results in the thermal stress inside the coatings. Consequently, the coatings spall from the base metal.