Effect of Al content on oxidation behaviour of ternary Fe–Al–C alloys

Iron aluminides produced by the electroslag refining technique, having the compositions: (1) Fe–16Al–1C, (2) Fe–10Al–1C, and (3) Fe–8Al–1C were used to investigate the effect of Al on the oxidation behaviour of the Fe–1C–Al system at 700 to 1000 °C. Prior to oxidation studies, phase and microstructure of alloys were analysed. The carbide phase, Fe3AlC0.69, was found to be distributed in the Fe3Al matrix in alloy 1 and α (Fe–Al) matrix in alloys 2 and 3. The low Al content alloys displayed inversion in the oxidation kinetics below 800 °C, while, high Al content alloy displayed inversion phenomena at 1000 °C. The mechanism involving inversion in oxidation kinetics was found to be different in the two cases. In the former, it was attributed to the preferential oxidation of Al, while in the latter, to the phase transformation within the Al2O3. Carbides in the alloy having low Al content showed instability during oxidation.