High Temperature Oxidation of Nickel-based Cermet Coatings Composed of Al2O3 and TiO2 Nanosized Particles

New technological challenges in oil production require materials that can resist high temperature oxidation. In-Situ Combustion (ISC) oil production technique is a new method that uses injection of air and ignition techniques to reduce the viscosity of bitumen in a reservoir and as a result crude bitumen can be produced and extracted from the reservoir. During the in-situ combustion process, production pipes and other mechanical components can be exposed to air-like gaseous environments at extreme temperatures as high as 700 degrees C. To protect or reduce the surface degradation of pipes and mechanical components used in in-situ combustion, the use of nickel-based ceramic-metallic (cermet) coating produced by co-electrodeposition of nanosized Al2O3 and TiO2 have been suggested and earlier research on these coatings have shown promising oxidation resistance against atmospheric oxygen and combustion gases at elevated temperatures. Co-electrodeposition of nickel-based cermet coatings is a low-cost method that has the benefit of allowing both internal and external surfaces of pipes and components to be coated during a single electroplating process. Research has shown that the volume fraction of dispersed nanosized Al2O3 and TiO2 particles in the nickel matrix which affects the oxidation resistance of the coating can be controlled by the concentration of these particles in the electrolyte solution, as well as the applied current density during electrodeposition. This paper investigates the high temperature oxidation behaviour of novel nanostructured cermet coatings composed of two types of dispersed nanosized ceramic particles (Al2O3 and TiO2) in a nickel matrix and produced by co-electrodeposition technique as a function of the concentration of these particles in the electrolyte solution and applied current density. For this purpose, high temperature oxidation tests were conducted in dry air for 96 hours at 700 degrees C to obtain mass changes (per unit of area) at specific time intervals. Statistical techniques as described in ASTM G16 were used to formulate the oxidation mass change as a function of time. The cross-section and surface of the oxidized coatings were examined for both visual and chemical analyses using wavelength dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (WDS) element mapping, X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The results showed that the volume fraction for each type of particle in the nickel matrix corresponded to its partial molar concentration in the electrolyte solutions. Increase in volume fraction of particles in the nickel matrix was correlated to lower oxidation rates. It was concluded that formation of Ni3TiO5 and NiTiO3 compounds can reduce the oxidation rate of cermet coatings by capturing some inward diffusing oxygen ions resulting in a lower number of nickel cations diffusing upward into the oxide layer.