Selective inhibition of metals on material surfaces catalyzing the metal dusting process

Metal dusting is a term describing the catastrophic corrosion of ferritic and austenitic steels as well as nickel base alloys under high carbon containing atmospheres with a carbon activity greater than one at high temperature (400-800 degrees C). Under these conditions carbon tends to diffuse into the material and causes internal stresses via graphite crystallization. This process is predominantly induced by the catalytic activity of iron, cobalt and nickel. To inhibit the catalytic mechanism several new approaches have been proposed in recent years. One is the formation of nickel-tin intermetallics on the surface for the direct inhibition of nickel.