In order to understand and predict how corrosion behaviour of metallic high temperature materials is affected by deposits of alkali salts, eight commercial high temperature alloys (AISI 314, alloy 800H, alloy 31, AC66, alloy 45-TM, alloy 625, alloy 59 and alloy C-4) coated with alkali sulphates and chlorides (Na2S04/KCl) were investigated in both air and in HCl/SO2- containing waste incineration environments. The corrosion rates were found to depend sensitively on the alloy composition, especially on the concentration of molybdenum and silicon. Both stainless steels and nickel base alloys without molybdenum were resistant to dissolution by sulphates in air. Molybdenumcontaining
steels and nickel base alloys, on the other hand, were extremely susceptible to acidic dissolution in sodium sulphate. These high corrosion rates can be attributed to an increase in salt acidity caused by dissolution of MoO3. The effect of HCl in the gas atmosphere was contradictory. All alloys without molybdenum suffered severe internal oxidation, when chlorine was present in the gas atmosphere. The corrosion rates of the nickel-molybdenum alloys, however, were decreased when chlorine was added to the gas phase. The highest corrosion resistance to synthetic waste incineration gas in combination with deposits of alkali sulphates and chlorides was found in the nickel base alloys 45 TM and alloy 625.
Keywords: high temperature corrosion, nickel base alloys, alkali salts, chlorides, sulphates, basic dissolution, acidic dissolution, chlorination, waste incineration, silica scales