Hot corrosion of ceramic engine materials
A number of commercially available SiC and Si3N4 materials were exposed to 1000 C in a high velocity, pressurized burner rig as a simulation of a turbine engine environment. Sodium impurities added to the burner flame resulted in molten Na2SO4 deposition, attack of the SiC and Si4N4 and formation of substantial Na2O-x(SiO2) corrosion product. Room temperature strength of the materials decreased. This was a result of the formation of corrosion pits in SiC, and grain boundary dissolution and pitting in Si3N4. Corrosion regimes for such Si-based ceramics have been predicted using thermodynamics and verified in rig tests of SiO2 coupons. Protective mullite coatings are being investigated as a solution to the corrosion problem for SiC and Si3N4. Limited corrosion occurred to cordierite (Mg2Al4Si5O18) but some cracking of the substrate occurred.