Corrosion of Aluminized and Uncoated 9–12% Cr Boiler Steels in Simulated Biomass andWaste Combustion Conditions

Coatings are seen a promising way to improve the corrosion resistance of relatively cheap power plant steels to enable higher steam temperatures than currently in use. In this research, 9–12% Cr steels P91 and HCM12A are coated with aluminium diffusion coating by a slurry method and exposed for 336 hours at 833 K and 883 K to atmospheres containing varying amounts of O2, H2O, HCl and SO2. Corrosion behaviour of the coated steels is compared to that of those steels in an uncoated condition. Characterization is performed by weighing, SEM + EDS and XRD. The results show that corrosion resistance of P91 and HCM12A is significantly improved by the aluminium diffusion coating at high temperatures in atmospheres containing HCl and SO2. The corrosion rate of the aluminized specimens slightly increases with increase in test temperature but remains virtually the same irrespective of the composition of the atmosphere. On the other hand, the corrosion rate of the uncoated specimens is dependent on both the atmosphere and the temperature. The steels undergo active oxidation that results in formation of non-protective, thick and layered scales in HCl containing atmospheres. SO2 addition slightly decreases the corrosion rate although it is anyway higher than that in SO2 containing atmosphere without HCl