JOM

DOI: 10.1007/s11837-015-1635-x
 2015 The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society

Evaluating the Hot Corrosion Behavior of High-Temperature

Alloys for Gas Turbine Engine Components
V.P. DEODESHMUKH1,2
1.Haynes International Inc., Kokomo, IN 46904-9013, USA. 2.e-mail: vdeodeshmukh@
haynesintl.com

The hot corrosion behavior of high-temperature alloys is critically important

for gas turbine engine components operating near the marine environments.
The two test methodsTwo-Zone and Burner-Rigused to evaluate the hot
corrosion performance of high-temperature alloys are illustrated by comparing the Type I hot corrosion behavior of selected high-temperature alloys.
Although the ranking of the alloys is quite comparable, it is evident that the
two-zone hot corrosion test is significantly more aggressive than the burnerrig test. The effect of long-term exposures and the factors that influence the
hot corrosion performance of high-temperature alloys are briefly discussed.

INTRODUCTION
The advancement in high-temperature engineering alloys has led to increases in both power and
efficiency of gas-turbine engines over the past
60 years. Advanced aero, industrial, and marine
gas-turbines face extreme (i.e. >1000C) and harsh
(i.e. with aggressive deposits and mixed gases)
operating conditions. Consequently, surface degradation of the gas turbine engine components often
occurs by high-temperature oxidation and/or hot
corrosion (HC).1 Of particular interest in this study
is hot corrosion, which is an accelerated degradation
process that involves deposition of corrosive species
(e.g., sulfates, chlorides) from the surrounding
environment (e.g., combustion gas to the surface of
hot components). The deposition of molten corrosive
species is then followed by destruction of the protective thermally grown oxide (TGO) scale, which
had formed on the component surface. Salt-induced
hot corrosion (HC) can be a particularly significant
degradation mechanism in marine environments
and when a contaminated lower-grade fuel is used.
Recently, with a progressive increase in operating
temperatures of gas turbines, cooler sections of the
gas turbines are susceptible to accelerated HC
attack, thus severely reducing the longevity of the
gas turbine engine components. An example of hot
corrosion attack in 188 alloy combustor exposed to
relatively low exposure temperatures (600C) is
shown in Fig. 1.

Typically, there are two different forms of hot

corrosion which have been reported for gas turbine
engine components. Depending upon the operating
temperature and the subsequent microstructural
appearance, the HC is divided into Type I HC (hightemperature hot corrosion) and Type II HC (lowtemperature hot corrosion). The temperature
dependence and degradation rates of these forms of
HC are compared with oxidation rate in Fig. 2.2 HC
is more aggressive than oxidation in the temperature range of 650C to 1000C, while above 1000C
salt vaporizes and oxidation becomes a significant
degradation process. Type I HC occurs above the
melting temperature of external salt deposits (800
1000C), while Type II HC occurs below the melting
temperature of external salt deposits (600800C).
The Type II HC reaction occurs from the localized
liquid formation at comparatively lower temperatures. It is primarily attributable to a reaction
between the salt deposit and the alloy underneath.
The severity of HC attack in gas turbines is significantly greater than high-temperature oxidation if
the turbines are operated near the marine environment, thus negatively impacting the longevity of
advanced gas turbine engine components.
There are several methods, such as the salt crucible test, the salt spray test, the electrochemical
corrosion test, the two-zone or Dean-rig test, and
the burner-rig test to evaluate HC behavior of hightemperature alloys. An issue with the salt crucible
and electrochemical tests is that the test samples

Deodeshmukh

Fig. 1. Hot corrosion observed in the 188 alloy combustor.

Fig. 2. Schematic of comparison between temperature dependence

and corrosion rates produced by the two forms of HC and oxidation.2

are completely immersed in salt, which totally

eliminates the role of the mixed gaseous combustion
environment. In contrast, the salt spray test method
does not involve a controlled gaseous environment.
These test methods eliminate the role of an external
mixed gaseous environment, thus they do not simulate HC observed in gas turbine engine environments. The two-zone and burner-rig test methods
are considered to simulate a HC environment
observed in gas turbines as both involve the presence of mixed gaseous environments.
There is rather limited data available that
directly compares the rankings observed from these
two test methods. In the present paper, Type I HC
results obtained from the two test methods are
compared. In addition, HC rankings based on the
extents of metal affected are presented. HC is
dependent upon various environmental and compositional factors, such as salt composition and its
melting temperature, alloy composition, gas composition, salt flux rate, thickness of salt scale, temperature and thermal cycles, and the thickness and
composition of the thermally grown oxide (TGO)
scale. As a part of this paper, the role of selected
factors that are likely to influence the HC characteristics are briefly discussed.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
The nominal compositions of alloys studied are
summarized in Table I. Wrought alloy samples of
each alloy were prepared to approximate

dimensions of 1 (2.54 cm) 9 1 (2.54 cm) 9 0.125

(0.3 cm) from regular production mill-annealed
sheets for HC testing. Prior to HC testing, all test
samples had holes drilled for positioning, and were
polished to a 120-grit finish, cleaned with acetone,
and then weighed prior to exposure.
For the two-zone HC testing, samples were suspended vertically on a ceramic rod and heated in a
box furnace for salt spraying. Beginning from the
1st cycle, test samples were sprayed with a saturated aqueous solution of Na2SO4, which resulted in
about 1 mg/(cm2 50 h) of solid salt deposit on each
side (i.e. total 2 mg/cm2) for the remaining cycles.
The weight gain due to the salt addition was measured by weighing the samples on a micro-balance
before and after the salt deposition. The samples
were then suspended vertically on a ceramic boat
such that both sides of the samples were exposed to
the gas mixture inside the rig. The HC testing of the
alloys was for up to 200 h (four 50- cycles) or 1050
1075 h (i.e. four or five 50-h cycles and the rest 75-h
cycles) of total exposure. The horizontal furnace rig
consisted of an upstream hot zone (at 1040C for
Type I testing) in which a Na2SO4 reservoir was
heated to above the melting temperature of 884C
and a downstream cooler zone (at 900C for Type I
and 705C for Type II testing) where the Na2SO4
vapor from the upstream evaporation condensed
onto the samples. A carrier gas of air +0.1% SO2 was
passed through a platinized honeycomb catalyst to
form an equilibrium amount of SO3, which in turn
stabilized the Na2SO4 activity. Test samples were
cooled to room temperature after every 50 h for the
first 4 or 5 cycles and after 75 h of exposure thereafter, and then re-deposited with 1 mg/cm2/side of
salt. Sample weight change was measured after
each cycle using an analytical balance. No attempts
were made to retain any reaction product that may
have spalled during cooling to room temperature or
due to the HC reaction and sample handling. Sample weight gain due to this periodic Na2SO4 deposition was not subtracted from the measured total
weight gain, because of the significant amount of
weight gain due to the HC reaction. Test samples
were rotated after each cycle so that all test samples
received uniform exposure throughout a HC run.
For the burner-rig HC test, a mixture of no. 2 fuel
oil and air was used to simulate HC test conditions
that occur in a gas turbine engine environment. The
combustion was generated with an air-to-fuel ratio
of 35:1. A synthetic sea salt solution was continuously injected into the combustion zone to supply a
constant concentration of salt source in the combustion gas. The synthetic salt solution was prepared according to ASTM D1141-52, which
primarily contains NaCl, MgCl2, Na2SO4, CaCl2,
and KCl. The test chamber was heated by electrical
resistance to ensure that a constant temperature
was maintained throughout the test. Test samples
with dimensions of 0.06 T 9 0.35 W 9 1.97 L
(1.5 mm 9 8.9 mm 9 50 mm) were loaded onto a

Evaluating the Hot Corrosion Behavior of High-Temperature Alloys

for Gas Turbine Engine Components
Table I. Nominal chemical compositions of tested alloys (wt.%)
Alloy (UNS #)
X (N06002)
230 (N06230)
214 (N07214)
556 (R50556)
188 (R30188)
25 (R30605)
625 (N06625)
617 (N06617)
S (N06635)
800HT (N08811)
253MA (S30815)
HR-160 (N12160)
6B (R30006)
NS-163

Ni
Bal.
Bal.
Bal.
Bal.
22
10
Bal.
Bal.
Bal.
32.5
11
Bal.
2.5
8

Cr
22
22
16
22
22
20
21
22
16
21
21
28
30
28

Fe
18
3
3
Bal.
3a
3a
5a
1
3a
Bal.
Bal.
2a
3a
21

Co
1.5
5
2
18
Bal.
Bal.
1a
12.5
2a

29
Bal.
Bal.

Mo
9
2
0.5a
3

1a
9
9
15

1a
1.5a

W
0.6
14
0.5a
2.5
14
15

1a

1a
4

C
0.1
0.1
0.04
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.07
0.02
0.08
0.1a
0.05
1
0.1

Others
a

1 Mn , 1 Sia, 0.5 Ala

0.5 Mn, 0.4 Si, 0.3 Al, 0.02 La, 0.015 Ba
4.5 Al, 0.1 Zra, 0.01 Y, 0.01 Ba
1 Mn, 0.4 Si, 0.3 Nba, 0.6 Ta, 0.2 Al, 0.2 N, 0.02 Zr
1.25 Mna, 0.35 Si, 0.03 La
1.5 Mn, 0.4 Sia
3.7 Nb, 0.4 Ala, 0.4 Tia
1.2 Al, 0.3 Ti
0.02 La, 0.4 Si
0.35 Al, 0.35 Ti
1.7 Si, 0.08 Cea, 0.2 Na, 0.8 Mna
2.75 Si, 0.5 Ti, 1 Nba, 0.5 Mn
1.4 Mn, 0.7 Si
0.5 Ala, 1.3 Ti, 0.5 Mna, 0.5 Sia, 1 Nb

Maximum.

carousel which rotated at about 30 rpm to ensure

that all samples were exposed to similar experimental conditions. Test samples were cycled out of
the combustion zone once every hour for 2 min,
during which time they were cooled by forced convection air to less than 200C. After completion of
every 100 h of exposure, samples were removed
from the carousel, and measured for weight change.
No attempt was made to retain any spalled oxide
scale or remove loosely attached scale during testing
or sample handling.
The corroded specimens were sectioned, mounted,
and prepared for microscopic examination using
optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with an attached energy dispersive
spectrometer (EDS). Metal degradation in the form
of metal loss, average internal penetration, and
maximum internal penetration was measured using
the optical microscope attached with a Magnaviewer. The average metal thickness loss was
calculated by subtracting the final metal thickness
(excluding external corrosion product) from the
original metal thickness. The average internal
attack (i.e. internal oxides and sulfides precipitates)
in a given sample was measured by optical metallographic examination. HC attack can be localized
and in such cases two cross-sections were taken for
the metallographic measurements. Overall, eight
measurements were made on each cross-section and
an average was taken either from one or two crosssections to arrive at an average depth of internal
penetration. The average metal affected, which
includes metal loss from the scale formation and
spallation plus average internal attack from oxide
and sulfide formation, was calculated and used for
ranking the alloy performances. Similarly, the
maximum metal affected due to HC was also calculated from metal loss plus maximum internal
penetration.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Comparative Two-Zone and Burner-Rig HC
Data
The two-zone 10501075 h test data are compared with two different burner-rig HC test data
(5 ppm and 50 ppm salt additions) in Table II. The
HC performance of the alloys exposed to a 50 ppm
salt level in the burner-rig test, but not the 5 ppm
salt level was comparable to the two-zone HC data.
The alloys found resistant in both tests were 230,
188, and 617, while alloys susceptible to HC were
25, 625, 556, X, 214, and S. It is clearly evident
from the HC reaction products for 617 alloy shown
in Fig. 3 that the nature of corrosion attack appears
to be quite similar in both tests, thus confirming
comparability of these test methods. The results
clearly indicate that HC data generated via the twozone set-up is quite reliable and consistent with the
burner-rig HC test containing 50 ppm salt. Thus, it
is fair to assume that the HC environment created
using the two-zone HC set-up can simulate HC
found in gas turbine engine environments. The twozone HC test is easy to operate, reliable, reproducible, and less expensive compared to the cumbersome and expensive burner-rig HC test method.
Therefore, the two-zone test method can be successfully used to down-select alloys, while the burner rig can be performed on the selected alloys.
Importance of Long-Term Exposures in the
Burner-Rig and Two-Zone Tests
Figure 4 shows that 25 and 214 alloys performed
reasonably well in one of the short-term burner-rig
test exposure (200 h), but both alloys underwent
catastrophic corrosion attack in another short-term
burner-rig test. This variability demonstrates the
challenges of maintaining HC test parameters, as

Deodeshmukh

Table II. Average of metal affected in mils for alloys exposed in two-zone and burner-rig to HC environment
for similar duration
Alloy


230
188
617
25
625
556
X
214
S

Two-zone (10501075 h)

Burner-rig (5 ppm salt; 1000 h)

Burner-rig (50 ppm salt; 1000 h)

4.0
4.8
4.9
17.2
44.8
18.0
22.6
26.6
20.0

5.1
2.8
NA
>25
5.3
5.9
5.5
>25
6.7

4.6
3.3
4.6
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25

Fig. 3. Comparison of backscattered SEM micrographs of 617 alloy after HC exposure at 900C two-zone (1050 h) and burner-rig (1000 h)
environments.

Fig. 4. Comparison between 200 h and 1000 h burner-rig HC

(50 ppm salt, 0.4% S) data for 25 and 214 alloys.

well as the importance of well-controlled salt additions for the reproducibility in a burner-rig HC test.
Figure 4 also shows comparative HC performance of
25 and 214 alloys exposed for 200 h versus 1000 h.
It was found that both the alloys underwent
catastrophic corrosion attacks during the 1000-h
test, thus implying that relatively long-term

exposure of about 1000 h is more reliable compared

to short-term exposures at identifying susceptibility
to HC. The variations observed in the 200-h test
results are attributable to the localized nature of
HC attack, as short-term exposure is extremely
sensitive to various test parameters.
It is well known that HC reactions follow a threestage degradation mode: transient, initiation, and
propagation mode.1 As such catastrophic HC generally occurs in the propagation mode, a delay in
transient and/or initiation periods caused by minor
environmental, compositional, and surface changes
would, in turn, delay the propagation mode. The
time required for catastrophic corrosion attack can
vary from test to test with minor environmental or
surface changes; thus extended exposure in a HC
environment is recommended to discern the alloy
performance.
The average metal affected data for 10501075 h
exposure was compared with short-term (200 h) HC
exposure to study the effects of a long-term HC
exposure in the two-zone test (Fig. 5). It is clearly
evident that the alloy rankings are quite consistent,
but the the amount of HC attack significantly
increased in alloys that were prone to severe HC.

Evaluating the Hot Corrosion Behavior of High-Temperature Alloys

for Gas Turbine Engine Components

Specifically, the extent of HC attack increased 23

times for alloys such as 25, 556, X, and 214. Interestingly, HR-160 exhibited good HC resistance after
a short-term test; however, the specimen underwent
relatively high HC attack after the 1050-h exposure.
A similar alloy ranking signifies that long-term (e.g.
1000 h) two-zone HC data are useful, but at the
same time short-term two-zone HC data (200 h) still
can be used to pre-select the alloys for long-term or
other types of testing. This behavior suggests that
HC observed in a two-zone test rig is often able to
skip transient and initiation stages altogether. This
is attributable to the pre-deposition of a salt layer on
the alloy coupon surfaces prior to HC test exposure.
The experiment clearly creates conditions for HC
reaction to propagate more rapidly than observed in
the traditional burner-rig HC test. In the burner-rig
test, salt is injected externally along with the combustion fuel and the slow deposition process allows
the HC reaction to follow transient and initiation
stages. The burner-rig and two-zone HC testing was
used to compare and rank the overall relative HC
performance of the high-temperature alloys at
900C, as shown in Table III. Only certain alloys
exhibited acceptable HC resistance (<8 mils). The

Fig. 5. Comparison of amount of metal affected for alloys after 200 h

and 10501075 h exposure to HC environment in the two-zone test.

improved performance of these alloys is

attributable to chromium content and various other
elements which are described later.
Factors that Influence HC Performance
Compositional Effects
There are two types of factorsenvironmental
and compositionalwhich affect HC performance in
high-temperature alloys. The presence of certain
elements plays a key role in the HC performance of
any alloy. Of particular importance in this study is
the presence of chromium, iron, and refractory elements, such as molybdenum, tungsten, and niobium. It is well known that alloys containing high
Mo levels are susceptible to catastrophic HC attack,
due to the formation of acidic and volatile MoO3.3,4
Once such acidic oxides are formed, the HC reaction
becomes self-sustaining due to the acidic fluxing
reaction, which is itself dictated by the amount of
refractory elements present. Alloys containing high
amounts of refractory elements such as X, S, and 25
were susceptible to catastrophic HC. In contrast,
alloys 230, 188, and 617, which also contain varied
amounts of high concentrations of refractory elements, were resistant to HC reaction. This resistance is attributable to the presence of a high Cr
content in the latter alloys, as chromium additions
are known to improve the hot-corrosion resistance of
high temperature metallic alloys and coatings.1,5
The average metal affected for selected alloys is
compared to the amount of Cr present (at.%) in the
alloys in Fig. 6. It is clearly evident that Cr
>25 at.% is needed to resist against HC in these
alloys. The role of Cr in providing HC resistance has
been described by Rapp using the fluxing model for
oxide solubilities in fused salt.5 Rapp showed that
Cr2O3 creates a positive solubility gradient caused
by an oxygen-pressure-dependence for basic fluxing
and results in the formation of Na2Cr2O4 in fused
Na2SO4. In addition to refractory elements, the
presence of Fe in the 556, X, 800HT, and 253MA
alloys was found to be detrimental from a HC
resistance standpoint. Hwang and Rapp proposed
that the presence of Fe in high-temperature alloys is
detrimental because the kinetics of dissolution of a
mixed oxide scale of Cr2O3 and Fe2O3 are significantly greater than dissolution of individual
oxides.6

Table III. Relative rankings of the alloys after HC exposure

Alloys


NS-163 , 230 , 188, 617, HR-120

253MA, HR-160, 800HT
25, 625, 556, X, 214, S

Avg. metal affected

Ranking

<8 mils
8 mils
12 mils

Good
Fair
Susceptible to catastrophic HC

Deodeshmukh

Environmental Effects
Among the environmental factors, salt content in
the environment can significantly affect HC performance of the alloys. It is seen from the Table II
that the burner-rig HC test performed with a 5-ppm
salt level is less aggressive than the 50-ppm burnerrig test because only two alloys 214 and 25 were
susceptible to catastrophic HC in the 5-ppm HC
test, while additional four alloys, 25, 625, X, and S,
were susceptible to catastrophic HC in the 50-ppm
burner-rig HC test.
To study the role of salt deposition rate on HC
performance, four different levels of Na2SO4 depositions were studied.7 An increase in HC attack was
noted with an increase in salt level contents. This
suggests that HC requires the presence of a liquid
salt deposit layer that can develop a PO2 gradient at
least at the salt/scale interface. Interestingly, it was

50

Avg. Metal Aected (mils)

45
40
35
30
25
20

NiOs SO3 g ! NiSO4 s

15
10
5
0

also found that the sample completely buried in salt

showed no discernable Type I HC attack. This is
attributable to the fact that the solubility of oxygen
in liquid Na2SO4 is extremely low,7 and that the
thick and continuous salt consequently confers a
very low PO2 and PO2 gradient at the salt/coating
interface, thus precluding any dissolution of the
thermally grown oxide scale. It is the presence and
maintenance of the oxide scale that provides HC
resistance. These results provide an explanation for
the variability in published HC data, since the
extent of salt deposition varies from study to study
and even from test to test in a given study. Indeed,
any development of a standardized procedure for
HC testing would require stipulation of the saltdeposit thickness.
An additional factor that may influence HC
behavior is the environmental gas composition. To
study the effect of gas composition, experiments
were carried out under Type II conditions in the
presence of 0.1%SO2 + O2 and 1%SO2 + O2 gas
mixtures. The samples tested in these conditions
were Ni-base alloys. It was found that an increase in
SO2 concentration from 0.1 to 1% further decreased
their HC resistance (Fig. 7). Type II HC of Ni-based
alloys is attributed to the formation of eutectic
Na2SO4-NiSO4 liquid (Tmelt = 671C).8 The NiSO4
(s) can form under Type II conditions by reaction (1),
where the NiO may be present as a consequence of
the initial stages of alloy oxidation or after localized
cracking of the scale

15

20

25

30

35

Cr (at%)
Fig. 6. Effect of Cr content (at.%) on the amount of metal affected
for alloys after 10501075 h HC exposure at 900C.

(1)

Thus, an increase in SO2 concentration from 0.1%

to 1% further increased PSO3 thus favoring the
formation of eutectic Na2SO4-NiSO4 liquid in these
alloys. There are several other factors not described
this paper, such as the sulfur content in the fuel and
prior environmental exposure (e.g. pre-oxidation)
which can also influence the HC performance of the
alloys.

Fig. 7. Cross-sectional backscattered SEM images of bulk Ni-base alloys after 100 h of Type II exposure at 705C in a flowing (a) 0.1%SO2 + O2
and (b) 1%SO2 + O2 gas mixture.

Evaluating the Hot Corrosion Behavior of High-Temperature Alloys

for Gas Turbine Engine Components

CONCLUSION
The nature of HC attack and the alloy rankings
evaluated via two test methodstwo-zone and
burner-rig (50 ppm salt)are quite similar, thus
confirming that both test methods are consistent
and reliable. When evaluating the HC performance
it is best to test alloys for extended duration as
alloys susceptible to catastrophic HC may not
undergo severe corrosion in the short-term test. The
alloys resistant to Type I HC are 230, 188, 617, HR120 and 617, while 25, 625, 556, X, and 214 were
prone to severe HC. The elements that influence the
HC performance of the alloys are chromium, iron,
and refractory elements such as molybdenum,
tungsten and niobium. It was found that a high
amount of chromium is beneficial while iron
and refractory elements are detrimental. The

environmental factors, such as salt content, salt

deposition rate, and SO2/SO3 composition in the gas,
can significantly impact the HC performance of
high-temperature alloys.
REFERENCES
1. F.S. Pettit and G.H. Meier, Superalloys 1984, Metallurgical
Society of AIME, Warrendale, PA, p. 651 (1984).
2. N.S. Bornstein, JOM 48, 3739 (1996).
3. J.A. Goebel, F.S. Pettit, and G.W. Goward, Metall. Trans. 4,
261 (1973).
4. K.R. Peters, D.P. Whittle, and J. Stringer, Corros. Sci. 16,
791 (1976).
5. R.A. Rapp, Corros. Sci. 44, 209 (2002).
6. Y.S. Hwang and R.A. Rapp, J. Electrochem. Soc. 137, 1276
(1990).
7. V.P. Deodeshmukh and B. Gleeson, NACE Paper No. 08461,
Houston TX, NACE Corrosion 2008.
8. P. Kofstad, High Temperature Corrosion (Elsevier Applied
Science: Crown House, 1988), p. 468.