To investigate the effects of different surface roughness on the oxidation behavior of the free-standing CoNiCrAlYHf coating and initial growth of the oxide scale, the characterization of the scale area and average thickness on the cross-section of the investigated alloys are shown in
Figure 12 the scale area and average thickness formed in the oxidation test are significantly larger in the sandblasted sample with surface roughness Ra = 7.572 µm at 1050 °C in dry air for 216 h than that produced in the 2000-grit surface with Ra = 0.130 µm. The average thickness of oxide scales for 100-grit (Ra = 0.983 µm) and 240-grit (Ra = 0.733 µm) surfaces are 3.21744 and 3.22356 µm, respectively, which are nearly identical. A small discrepancy is attributed to the action of some strip of interior oxide. The average thickness of the oxide scale is 3.04272 µm for a 600-grit surface with Ra = 0.245 µm; hence, a low surface roughness reduces the oxidation resistance of the free-standing CoNiCrAlYHf material, whereas a high surface roughness increases the oxidation resistance. The environment exhibited high oxidation resistance. Furthermore, the area and average thickness of the oxide scale created during the oxidation test of the freestanding CoNiCrAlYHf coating decrease with decreasing surface roughness. Under these conditions, the oxidation behavior of this alloy primarily depends on the surface roughness, which is consistent with the aforementioned results (
Figure 12). The mass change graphs show 0.6 mg. cm
-2 for the sandblasted surface, 0.5 mg. cm
-2 for the 100-grit sample, 0.39 mg. cm
-2 for the 240-grit sample, 0.4 mg. cm
-2 for the 600-grit sample, and 0.3 mg. cm
-2 for the 2000-grit sample as a result of a rise in the surface development ratio. When comparing the roughest and smoothest samples, the sandblasted surface had nearly double the mass change value (0.6 mg. cm
-2) of that of the 2000-grit sample (0.3 mg. cm
-2). Therefore, oxygen from the atmosphere has a 50% larger absorption area and immediately reacts at the start of the oxidation procedure. According to the Le Chatelier–Braun direction, when the number of moles of oxygen accessible for a response increases, the number of moles of reaction products increases [
37]. Furthermore, surface roughness had a significant effect on the morphology of the oxide scale. Small Al
2O
3 and HfO
2 grains comprised the majority of the smooth surfaces, with the Co-/Cr-/Al-mixed oxide preferentially growing above the initial crevices of the base material. Al
2O
3 appeared disproportionately on the rough surfaces. The protrusions were speculated to be the locations where Al depletion rapidly occurred before HfO
2 diffused outward through the Al
2O
3 grain boundaries. The interfacial decohesion was speculated to occur owing to the strong roughening of the freestanding CoNiCrAlYHf coating surface due to sandblasting in combination with growth stresses on the thermally grown Al
2O
3 scale. The oxidation kinetics increased with the mass-change curve. In the early stage of oxidation, outer (Co, Ni) O and spinel (CoCr
2O
4) were mostly formed on the surfaces of sandblasted samples with Ra = 7.572 µm and 2000-grit samples with Ra = 0.130 µm due to the outward diffusion of metal cations reacting with oxygen at the metal/gas interface. Consequently, the outward diffusion of Cr and Al cations on the surfaces of 100-grit samples with Ra = 0.983 µm, 240-grit samples with Ra = 0.733 µm, and 600-grit samples with Ra = 0.245 µm primarily formed the outer spinel (CoCr
2O
4) and transitory θ-Al
2O
3. Because of the presence of Cr and the high temperature oxidation, the transitory Al
2O
3 film could be swiftly transformed into a stable single α-Al
2O
3 film [
2,
38]. The sample with the rougher surface exhibited flaws in the area close to the surface. The existence of flaws was a factor that impacted the oxidation behavior of the free-standing CoNiCrAlYHf coating. Specifically, the creation of a protective oxide scale is caused by a more significant defect concentration in the material region close to the surface. We hypothesized that the flaws in Ni would increase the coefficient of diffusion of Al within the metal. However, it is still unclear whether the imperfection acts as a manageable path for diffusion or lowers the activation energy needed for recrystallization, which leads to a higher concentration of grain boundaries. Regardless of the precise mechanism, the presence of faults triggers the production of increased amounts of protective oxide scales.