Abstract
An innovative methodology to deposit, by plasma spraying, ceramic thermal barrier coatings on gas turbine blades and vanes was developed. Such a methodology produces a pattern of microcracks in the coating, thus improving its thermal shock resistance. After a laboratory campaign of process optimization and coating characterization, real components were coated with a 150µm thick layer of NiCoCrAlY as a bond coat and a 300µm thick layer of ZrO2, partially stabilised with 8%of Y2O3, as a top coat. In particular, four vanes, taken from the first stage of a land based gas turbine (V64.3, produced by Ansaldo), were coated on the whole airfoil. The four vanes were submitted to a cyclic oxidation test in a burner rig simulating the operative conditions of a gas turbine. In particular, they were exposed to a gas flow with the same composition, temperature and speed of the inlet gas of a real gas turbine; moreover, they were cooled by an internal stream of compressed air for obtaining the same temperature profile of a vane in operation. The surface temperature of the vanes was monitored during the test by an optical pyrometer and the internal temperature by a thermocouple. After 550 hours of test, corresponding to 550 cycles, the four vanes did not show any sign of damage.
