Oxidation resistance: One barrier to moving beyond Ni-base superalloys

The implementation of new high-temperature materials is often hampered by their lack of oxidation or environmental resistance. This failing is one of the strongest barriers to moving beyond Ni-base superalloys for many commercial applications. In practice, usable high-temperature alloys have at least reasonable oxidation resistance, but the current generation of single-crystal Ni-base superalloys has sufficient oxidation resistance that optimized versions can be used without a metallic bond coating and only an oxygen-transparent ceramic coating for thermal protection. The material development process often centers around mechanical properties, while oxidation resistance, along with other realities, is given minor attention. For many applications, the assumption that an oxidation-resistant coating can be used to protect a substrate is seriously flawed, as coatings often do not provide sufficient reliability for critical components. Examples of oxidation problems are given for currently used materials and materials classes with critical oxidation resistance problems.