PNNL

Abstract

Long-term tests (>8,000 hours) indicate that AISI 441 ferritic stainless steel coated with a Mn-Co spinel protection layer is a promising candidate material system for IT-SOFC interconnect applications. While uncoated AISI 441 showed a substantial increase in area-specific electrical resistance (ASR), spinel-coated AISI 441 exhibited much lower ASR values (11-13 mOhm-cm2). Formation of an insulating silica sublayer beneath the native chromia-based scale was not observed, and the spinel coatings reduced the oxide scale growth rate and blocked outward diffusion of Cr from the alloy substrate. The structure of the scale formed under the spinel coatings during the long term tests differed from that typically observed on ferritic stainless steels after short term oxidation tests. While short term tests typically indicate a dual layer scale structure consisting of a chromia layer covered by a layer of Mn-Cr spinel, the scale grown during the long term tests consisted of a chromia matrix with discrete regions of Mn-Cr spinel distributed throughout the matrix. The presence of Ti in the chromia scale matrix and/or the presence of regions of Mn-Cr spinel within the scale may have increased the scale electrical conductivity, which would explain the fact that the observed ASR in the tests was lower than would be expected if the scale consisted of pure chromia.