Methods for refurbishing aerospace components

A method of refurbishing an aerospace component, comprising:

• exposing an aerospace component containing corrosion to an acidic cleaning solution, wherein the aerospace component comprises a nickel superalloy, an aluminide layer disposed on the nickel superalloy, and an aluminum oxide layer disposed on the aluminide layer, and wherein the corrosion is contained on and within the aluminum oxide layer;
• removing the corrosion and the aluminum oxide layer with the acidic cleaning solution to reveal the aluminide layer;
• then
• exposing the aluminide layer to a post-rinse;
• and
• forming a protective coating on the aluminide layer.

A method of refurbishing an aerospace component, comprising:

• exposing an aerospace component containing corrosion to an acidic cleaning solution, wherein the aerospace component comprises a nickel superalloy, an aluminide layer disposed on the nickel superalloy, and an aluminum oxide layer disposed on the aluminide layer, and wherein the corrosion is contained on the aluminum oxide layer and within the aluminum oxide layer and a first portion of the aluminide layer;
• removing the corrosion, the aluminum oxide layer, and the first portion of the aluminide layer with the acidic cleaning solution to reveal a second portion of the aluminide layer;
• then
• exposing the aerospace component to a post-rinse;
• and
• forming a protective coating by a vapor deposition process on the second portion of the aluminide layer, wherein the vapor deposition process is a thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD) process, a plasma-enhanced ALD (PE-ALD) process, a thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, a plasma-enhanced CVD (PE-CVD) process, or a pulsed-CVD process.