Improved Thermal Cycling Durability of Thermal Barrier Coatings Manufactured by PS-PVD

The durability of columnar TBCs produced by PS-PVD are strongly influenced by the compatibility of the metallic bond coat and ceramic topcoat. Studies have shown that a smooth bondcoat surface improves thermal cycling performance and that further improvements are possible by optimizing the formation of the thermally grown oxide layer. In this work, preheating and the deposition of the first coating layer are varied in order to adjust oxide growth. The results show that thermal cycling lifetimes can be more than doubled without a major increase in manufacturing time.