Recent experimental investigations have widened the understanding of metal dusting significantly. Microscopic observations have been used to dissect dusting mechanisms. Iron dusts by growing a cementite surface scale, which catalyses graphite nucleation and growth. The resulting volume expansion leads to cementite disintegration. Cementite formation on iron can be suppressed by alloying with germanium. Nonetheless, dusting occurs via the direct growth of graphite into the metal, producing nanoparticles of ferrite. This process is faster, because carbon diffusion is more rapid in a-Fe than in Fe 3 C. Austenitic materials cannot form cementite, and dust via formation of graphite at external surfaces and interior grain boundaries. The coke deposit consists of carbon nanotubes with austenite particles at their tips, or graphite particles encapsulating austenite. TEM studies demonstrate the inward growth of graphite within the metal interior. It is therefore concluded that the dusting mechanism of austenitic materials like high alloy Cr-Ni steels and Ni base materials is one of graphite nucleation and growth within the near surface metal. In all alloys examined, both ferritic and austenitic, the principal mass transfer process is inward diffusion of carbon. Alloying iron with nickel leads to a transformation from one mechanism with carbide formation to the other without. Copper alloying in nickel and high nickel content stainless steels strongly suppresses graphite nucleation, as does also an intermetallic Ni-Sn phase, thereby reducing greatly the overall dusting rate. A surface layer of intermetallic Ni-Sn Fe-base materials facilitates the formation of a Fe 3 SnC surface scale which also prevents coking and metal dusting. Current understanding of the roles of temperature, gas composition and surface oxides on dusting rates are summarised. Finally, protection against metal dusting by coatings is discussed in terms of their effects on catalysis of carbon deposition, and on protective oxide formation.

High-temperature alloys are crucial to many important technologies that underpin our civilization. All these materials rely on forming an external oxide layer (scale) for corrosion protection. Despite decades of research on oxide scale growth, many open questions remain, including the crucial role of the so-called reactive elements and water. Here, we reveal the hitherto unknown interplay between reactive elements and water during alumina scale growth, causing a metastable 'messy' nano-structured alumina layer to form. We propose that reactive-element-decorated, hydroxylated interfaces between alumina nanograins enable water to access an inner cathode in the bottom of the scale, at odds with the established scale growth scenario. As evidence, hydride-nanodomains and reactive element/hydrogen (deuterium) co-variation are observed in the alumina scale. The defect-rich alumina subsequently recrystallizes to form a protective scale. First-principles modelling is also performed to validate the RE effect. Our findings open up promising avenues in oxidation research and suggest ways to improve alloy properties.

The FeCrAl alloy Kanthal APMT TM was exposed to N 2 -5%H 2 at 900°C. Trace oxygen in the gases supplied an oxygen activity which was sufficient to render alumina and chromia thermodynamically stable. The exposures revealed that the oxide scale was penetrated by nitrogen exclusively at chromia domains. Microscopic analyses of the oxide scale did not reveal micro-cracks that could serve as points-of-entry for nitrogen. Instead it is suggested that nitrogen is transported through a dense chromia layer. Density functional theory was employed to investigate decisive nitrogen surface chemistry and transport properties in chromia and alumina. The study was used to validate that the complex redox chemistry of Cr 3?as opposed to Al 3? is a sufficient discriminating factor between alumina and chromia, facilitating N 2 dissociation and mobility of N in chromia.

The solid-state precursor cluster chlorides Na(4)[(Zr(6)Be)Cl(16)] and K[(Zr(6)Fe)Cl(15)] readily dissolve in Lewis-basic ionic liquids consisting of mixtures of EMIm-Br and AlBr(3) (EMIm: 1-ethyl-3-methyl-imidazolium) to give dark colored solutions. From these solutions, the cluster phases (EMIm)(4)[(Zr(6)Fe)Br(18)] (1) and (EMIm)(4)[(Zr(6)Be)Br(18)] (2) were obtained in acceptable yields. Crystallographic data of the isostructural phases are the following: monoclinic, P2(1)/c, Z = 2. The data for 1 follow: a = 10.5746(4) Angstrom, b = 22.6567(9) Angstrom, and c = 13.0260(5) Angstrom, beta = 111.279(2) degrees. The data for 2 follow: a = 10.574(2) Angstrom, b = 22.681(4) Angstrom, and c = 13.041(2) Angstrom, beta = 111.31(2) degrees. Compound 1 is the first detailed structurally characterized molecular Fe-centered zirconium bromide cluster phase. In the bromide based ionic liquid, a complete exchange of all the outer and inner chlorides by bromide takes place. Since the inverse reaction, the exchange of all bromides by chlorides, was reported before, this complete ligand exchange can be considered as reversible, with the equilibrium being largely determined by the free ligand concentration. The electronic spectra of a chloride supported cluster precursor in different ionic liquids were measured and analyzed.

A straightforward conceptual tool for discriminating between different oxide scaling processes deviating from the parabolic standard model is formulated. Grain boundary diffusion-controlled oxide scaling is generalized to include lateral grains coarsening. Building on traditional Wagner theory, attenuation of rates of inwards growing oxides owing to the gradual loss of grain boundary density is revisited. Two viable cases are identified. One has the rate of grain boundary density loss to be independent of the rate of oxide growth, while the second case takes the two instantaneous rates to be equal. Simple parabolic-logarithmic and superparabolic-cubic expressions are arrived at for the two cases, respectively. Usefulness is demonstrated by applying the models to published experimental data from 1990 to date. Upon arrival at the superparabolic-cubic behaviour, a generic mathematical form analogous to a 'spring force' attenuating the scale growth was identified. 'Parabolic', 'cubic' and 'logarithmic' scaling emerges as limiting cases.