Ceramic Oxide Coatings for the Corrosion Protection of Silicon Carbide

Silicon carbide is currently used as a structural material for heat exchanger tubes and related applications because of its excellent thermal properties and oxidation resistance. Silicon carbide suffers corrosion degradation, however, in the aggressive furnace environments of industrial processes for aluminum remelting, advanced glass melting, and waste incineration. Adherent ceramic oxide coatings developed at Solar Turbines Incorporated, with the support of the Gas Research Institute, have been shown to afford corrosion protection to silicon carbide in a simulated aluminum remelt furnace environment as well as in laboratory-type corrosion testing. The coatings are also protective to silicon carbide-based ceramic matrix composites.