Oxidation resistance of TiAl3–Al composite coating on orthorhombic Ti2AlNb based alloy

The TiAl3–Al composite coating on orthorhombic Ti2AlNb based alloy was prepared by cold spray. Oxidation in air at 950 °C indicated that the bare alloy exhibited poor oxidation resistance due to the formation of TiO2/AlNbO4 mixture and intended to scale off at the TiO2 rich zone. A nitride layer about 2 µm was formed under the oxide layer. The oxygen invaded deeply into the alloy and caused severe microhardness enhancement in the near surface region. The TiAl3–Al composite coating exhibited parabolic oxidation kinetics and showed no sign of degradation after oxidized up to 1098 h at 950 °C in air under quasi-isothermal condition. No scaling of the coating was observed after oxidized at 950 °C up to the tested 150 cycles. The major oxide in the oxidized coating was Al2O3. The AlTi2N, TiAl and small amount of TiO2 were also observed in the oxidized coating. The EPMA and microhardness tests showed that inward oxygen diffusion was prevented by the interlayer, which was formed between the composite coating and the substrate during heat-treatment. Microstructure analyses demonstrated that the interlayer play a major role in protecting the substrate alloy from high temperature oxidation and interstitial embrittlement.