Interdiffusion behaviors of iron aluminide coatings on China low activation martensitic steel

The iron aluminide coating on China Low Activation Martensitic (CLAM) steel was prepared by pack cementation and subsequent heat treatment. A surface Fe2Al5 layer was formed on CLAM substrate by pack cementation process with Fe2Al5 donor powder and NH4Cl activator. Diffusion heat treatment was performed in order to allow the phase transformation from Fe2Al5 to a phase with lower aluminum content. Morphology and composition of the coatings were characterized by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy (GDOES) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). There is a need to study the interdiffusion behaviors in these Al containing systems, as a basis for controlling the formation and subsequent degradation of the coating. In this paper, a predictive model was developed to describe the phase transformation of Fe2Al5 as a function of processing parameters. The Wagner's equation was used to calculate the interdiffusion coefficients based on the analysis of the Al concentration profiles. The results showed that the interdiffusion coefficients in the FeAl and alpha-Fe(Al) phase strongly depends on Al content and showed a maximum at about 28 at.% Al. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.