Experimental and modeling investigation of the thermal shock behavior of TiC-based self-healing coatings on AISI 321 stainless steel

The AISI 321 steels of structural components serviced at high temperature are usually subjected to oxidation and thermal shock damage during service. Therefore, to improve their high-temperature oxidation and thermal shock resistance, the self-healing coating consisting of Al₂O₃-13 %TiO₂ layer, TiC layer and NiCrAlY layer was prepared for 321 steels in this work. The experimental and microstructural characterization results showed that the thermal shock resistance of such self-healing coating was remarkably improved as compared to the counterpart double-AT13 coating. This is because the volume increment resulting from the oxidation reaction between the TiC and oxygen decreased the porosity of the self-healing coating and retarded crack growth, which also led to the improved high-temperature oxidation resistance. Further, a thermal shock life model based on the crack growth model of Paris formula were developed. The modeling results not only agreed well with the experimental results but also indicated that thickening of thermal grown oxide (TGO) is the main cause of crack initiation and growth.