The phase diagrams of ternary systems involving two metal components and one oxidant are considered first, the limitations to their use is discussed in relation to the high temperature oxidation of binary alloys. Kinetic diagrams,which are useful to predict the conditions for the stability of the two mutually insoluble oxides as the external scale, are then calculated on the basis of thermodynamic and kinetic data concerning both the alloys and the oxides, assuming the validity of the parabolic rate law. A combination of the two types of diagrams provides a more detail information about the oxidation behavior of binary alloys. The calculation of the diffusion paths, which relate the oxidant pressure to the composition of the system in terms of the alloy components both in the alloy and in the scale during an initial stage of the reaction in the presence of the parabolic rate law, is finally developed.