The purpose of this study is to investigate the hot corrosion behavior of three Fe-30.1Mn-6.93Al-0.86C base alloys with different aluminum and chromium contents. The hot corrosion experiments were performed at a temperature range from 750 to 850degreesC in air with 2 mg cm(-2) NaCl deposit. The performance of alloys and hot corrosion mechanism were determined by the results of weight change kinetics and subscale analyses. The results show that NaCl accelerated the oxidation of Fe-Mn-Al-C alloys. The hot corrosion behavior depends on the environment temperature and the contents of aluminum and chromium. When the aluminum content exceeds 8 wt.%, the Al2O3 scale forms in simple oxidation. The addition of chromium gives the best oxidation resistance at both 750 and 800degreesC. In hot corrosion environments, the addition of chromium reduced the metal loss but did not improve the overall hot corrosion resistance. A higher aluminum content is beneficial for the alloy to form Al2O3 at 850degreesC, resulting in the best corrosion resistance in this study. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.