Thermal insulation performance is a measurement of the thermal protection offered by the thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) to the substrate, therefore, it is essentially important to compare different double ceramic layer (DCL) TBCs on the premise of the same thermal resistance. In this study, a series of LZO/YSZ DCL-TBCs, with the equivalent thermal insulation to 500 µm thick YSZ TBCs, were prepared, and their lifetimes were evaluated by thermal gradient cyclic test at the top coat surface temperature of 1300°C. Result show that, the lifetime of DCL-TBCs was more than doubled compared to 500 µm thick YSZ TBCs, when 100µm thick YSZ coating was substituted by LZO coating. In addition, the lifetime of DCL-TBCs decreased with the increase of LZO substitutional ratio. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that LZO maintains the pyrochlore structure after thermal cyclic test. Microstructure examination demonstrated that, with the increase of LZO substitutional ratio, the delamination position transferred from near top/bond coating interface to near LZO/YSZ interface and finally to the inside of LZO coating. Therefore, this study would shed light to further coating structure optimization towards the next generation advanced DCL-TBCs.

The non-parabolic isothermal oxidation kinetics of low pressure plasma sprayed MCrAlY bond coat was investigated. To qualitatively explain the abnormal growth phenomenon of thermally grown oxides (TGO), the changes that occurred to their microstructure during the oxidation process were studied. Based on these observations, a modified model was developed to understand and quantitatively predict the non-parabolic oxidation and growth kinetics of TGO. This modified model, which fits well with experimental results, provides a novel method to quantitatively predict the long-term growth behaviour of TGO, and thereby benefits the development of long-life and highly reliable thermal barrier coatings.

NiCrAl/ZrO 2 -8Y 2 O 3 coatings deposited on SUS304 stainless steel and 45 carbon steel substrates were prepared by APS at different preheating temperatures, of which thickness exceeded 1mm. This study analyzed the coatings’ separation from different preheated substrates in the cooling process after spraying due to residual thermal stress. The Young’s modulus of the porous YSZ coatings was calculated and also measured by Knoop indentation methods for comparison purposes. The result indicated that the failure of porous thick YSZ coatings is mainly caused by the cracks nucleation, propagation and coalescence, which is related to the thermal-expansion coefficient difference between substrate and coatings, preheating temperature, porosity of coatings and so on. Due to their increased porosity, the porous and thick YSZ coatings had much lower calculated and measured Young’s modulus values than the sintered YSZ coatings.

With the modification of plasma spray parameters, porosity ratio of top coat can control along the cross-section. This improves the thermal cycle resistance and decrease the thermal conductivity. Plasma sprayed ZrO 2 /8 wt.–% Y 2 O 3 –NiCrAlY TBC systems which have different porosity (%8-12) and range of 250-350µm thicknesses of top coats, during thermal cycling tests with different hold times at 1350 °C have been performed. The main failure modes: delamination cracking, TGO growth rate and phase transformation are strongly dependent on the hold temperature and time. The correlation between TBC thermal cycle lifetimes and duration of high temperature hold time per cycle is shown and discussed with depending on thickness and porosity ratio.

Atmospheric plasma-sprayed YSZ thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) are widely used in industrial gas turbine engines to prevent the superalloy blades from failure. The failure of TBCs in service occurs by the spalling of YSZ coating. Crack propagation leading to the failure of plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings usually occurs within YSZ coating near the YSZ/Bond coat interface. In the present study, a novel durable TBCs consisting of a YSZ interlayer of the well-bonded interlamellae between the bond coat and conventional YSZ top porous coat was introduced. The YSZ interlayer was deposited at different coating surface temperatures, which resulted in the formation of YSZ with significantly improved interlamellar bonding. The result shows that thermal cyclic lifetime of the novel TBCs with the 20-30 µm thick YSZ interlayer increased by factor of 4 compared with that of the conventional one. The improved thermal cyclic lifetime was attributed to the controlled transition of cracking path from the near YSZ/bond coat interface to YSZ top layer. The effect of thickness of the YSZ interlayer on the lifetime of TBCs was also investigated.

The performance of a thermal barrier coating is influenced by the high temperature oxidation behavior of bond coat. In this paper, NiCoCrAlTaY bond coat was deposited by high velocity air-fuel (HVAF) spraying, and the microstructure and surface morphology of the bond coat before and after oxidation were examined. Results show that the HVAF sprayed NiCoCrAlTaY coating presented a dense microstructure and some partially melted particles in a near spherical morphology were deposited on the coating surface. A uniform α-Al 2 O 3 oxide was formed on the HVAF sprayed MCrAlY coating surface after the pre-oxidation treatment in an argon atmosphere. A small fraction of nodular-shaped mixed oxides was formed when the MCrAlY coating was oxidized at 1000°C for 100 h. The amount of the mixed oxides did not significantly increase after 200 h oxidation. The large particles on the bond coat surface maintained homogeneous α-Al 2 O 3 oxide scale in 200 h oxidation at 1000°C in air. A model is proposed to explain the formation of nodular-shaped mixed oxides.