MCrAlY coatings (M=Ni and/or Co) are widely used for the protection of superalloy components against oxidation and hot corrosion in the hot sections of gas turbines. The drive for coating systems to bestow adequate oxidation and corrosion resistance upon the components becomes urgent as an inevitable result of the necessary improvement in engine combustion efficiency and service lifetime. Through careful design of the composition, MCrAlY coating performance can be optimized to meet the needs under different service conditions and component materials, therefore, "MCrAlX", with "X" standing for the minor alloying elements, is used to highlight the effect. In the present thesis, the performance of new MCrAlX coatings is investigated with respect to oxidation, hot corrosion and interactions between coating-superalloy substrates.Coating performance can be affected by many factors, where their impacts may vary at different oxidation stages, therefore experiments are designed by targeting each stage. Investigation on the initial stage oxidation behavior of MCrAlY coatings with post-deposition surface treatments reveals the different growth mechanisms of alumina scales. Results showed that surface treatments significantly reduce the alumina growth rate by suppressing transient alumina development and aiding the early formation of α-Al 2 O 3 , which improves the long-term oxidation performance of the coating. Similarly, the modification of minor alloy elements in MCrAlX coatings also yields a similar effect. Subsequently, study on the oxidation behavior of new MCrAlX coatings is carried out at the steady oxidation stage, followed by the microstructure observation, and thermodynamic and kinetic simulations. As an alternative reactive element to Y, Ce shows a negative effect on the formation of columnar alumina scales of high strain tolerance. In comparison, Fe or Ru addition shows no influence on alumina growth, rather than strengthening the phase stability in the coating and reducing the interdiffusion between coating-substrate through different mechanisms. As the oxidation proceeds to the close-to-end stage, a reliable criterion to estimate the capability of coating to form α-Al 2 O 3 is of great importance to accurately evaluate coating lifetime. A iii iv temperature-dependent critical Al-activity criterion is proposed to better predict the formation of a continuous α-Al 2 O 3 scale based on correction of the elemental activity using commercial thermodynamic databases to replace the empirical Al-concentration based criterion.Severe interdiffusion occurs between coating-substrate during high temperature oxidation, accelerating the degradation of the system. Interdiffusion behavior of diffusion couples of superalloys-MCrAlX coatings are examined. It is highlighted that the the recrystallization of superficial layer of the substrate contributes to the secondary reaction zone formation and element interdiffusion controls subsequent zone thickening.Study on Type I hot corrosion behavior of new MCrAlX coatings shows that the ...