Corrosion behaviour of Ti-48Al-2Nb-2Cr alloys

γ-TiAl intermetallics are attractive materials for high-temperature structural applications in the aerospace and automobile industries. However, they show environmental embrittlement at elevated temperatures that is mainly related to their low high-temperature corrosion resistance. One way how to improve the high-temperature corrosion resistance is the deposition of protective coatings on the surface of the base material. In this study, samples of a Ti-Al alloy with the chemical composition Ti-48Al-2Cr-2Nb (at.%) were covered by physically vapour deposited (PVD), by metalorganic chemically vapour deposited (MOCVD) and by high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) sprayed coatings. All coatings were based on the Ti-Al alloys and contained different amounts of alloying elements. The corrosion experiments were performed in molten salts containing 75 wt.% Na2SO4 and 25 wt.% NaCl at 850ºC up to 336 h. Both, PVD and CVD protected coatings reduced the changes in the mass of the samples over the corrosion time. Still, the formation of TiO2 could not be avoided, as it was confirmed by glancing-angle X-ray diffraction experiments.