An Approximate Analysis of the External Oxidation of Ternary Alloys Forming Insoluble Oxides. I: High Oxidant Pressures

Abstract

The general properties of the isothermal thermodynamic phase diagrams for ternary A–B–C alloys exposed to a single oxidant at high temperatures are examined, assuming, for simplicity, the formation of insoluble p-type oxides, an ideal behavior of the alloy, and a common value of the self-diffusion coefficient for the alloy components, independent of the alloy composition, but disregarding the possibility of internal oxidation. Simplified two-dimensional phase diagrams are produced by projecting the lines and points of equilibrium of the complete three-dimensional diagrams on the base triangle, which gives the composition of the system in terms of the metal components only. Similar “kinetics diagrams” concerning the nature and the growth kinetics of the scales formed on ternary alloys as functions of the bulk substrate composition are also calculated for oxidant pressures above the stability of the oxides of all the alloy components and some of their general features are examined. The kinetics diagrams for ternary alloys exposed to a single oxidant contain seven regions, three of which correspond to the areas of stability of each single oxide, three to the possible mixtures of two oxides, and one to a mixture of all three oxides.