A surface coating for protecting substrates with Ti—Al material, preferably comprising one or more of the materials from table 1, wherein the coating comprises a layer sequence with at least one layer which forms a diffusion barrier for Ti, preferably according to one or more of the layer sequences specified in table 1 in rows, and wherein the coating comprises an oxidation barrier which is in particular adjusted to the diffusion barrier and preferably adjusted according to table 2, and in particular wherein the surface coating comprises a thermal barrier which is preferably adjusted to the oxidation barrier according to table 3.