The growth kinetics of thermally grown oxide (TGO) silica in Yb-disilicate (YbDS) environmental barrier coatings (EBCs) significantly affects the durability of EBCs. The oxygen permeability can control the TGO growth kinetics and thus could play an essential role in determining EBCs life. Therefore, the oxygen permeability constant of YbDS and TGO is systematically evaluated and quantified in terms of thermodynamics using defect reactions and the parabolic rate constant (kp), respectively. Dry oxygen and wet oxygen conditions as well as different temperatures, partial pressures and top coat modifiers are investigated. The results offer evidence that the oxygen permeability constant for the YbDS top coat is an order of magnitude higher than for the TGO. As such, the TGO hinders the oxidant diffusion stronger, proving to be the diffusion rate controlling layer. Moreover, water vapor strongly increases the oxygen permeability with defect reactions playing a key role. It is suggested that the mass transfer through the top coat is primarily by outward ytterbium ion diffusion and inward oxygen ion movement, with the latter being dominant, particularly in wet environments. The effect of top coat modifiers on oxidant permeation is composition sensitive and seems to be related to their interaction with oxygen ions and their mobility.

Stabilized bismuth oxide with fluorite structure is considered a promising electrolyte material for intermediate temperature solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) due to its high oxygen ion conductivity. The ternary system, Bi2O3-Er2O3-WO3, is of particular interest because it is ionically conductive as well as thermally stable. This study investigates the quality of Bi2O3-Er2O3-WO3 (EWSB) electrolyte produced by plasma spraying. The phase structure and cross-sectional microstructure of plasma-sprayed EWSB were characterized by XRD and SEM. The as-sprayed EWSB was found to have a dense microstructure with well bonded lamellae. XRD analysis showed the formation of EWSB with δ-phase and a trace of β-phase, while the β-phase disappeared after annealing at 750°C for 10h. Electrical property tests revealed that the plasma-sprayed electrolyte also had excellent ionic conductivity (0.26 S cm-1 at 750 °C), making it a strong candidate for use in SOFCs at intermediate temperatures.

Cation-deficient perovskite-type oxides have received considerable attention as new thermal barrier coating materials because of their extremely low thermal conductivities. In this study, sintered samples produced from RTa 3 O 9 (R: Y, La or Yb) powders are examined and the mechanisms behind their low thermal conductivity are investigated. Thermal conductivity was found to vary primarily with the ionic radius of the R element. As ionic radius decreases, nanodomains form via tilting of the TaO 6 octahedra. Phonon scattering at the domain boundaries is thus likely responsible for the low thermal conductivity of cation-deficient perovskite oxides.

Strontium zirconate is a candidate material for thermal barrier coatings due to its high melting point, good sintering resistance, and high TCE. One drawback, however, is a phase transition that occurs below 1200 °C , although rare-earth element doping offers a way to suppress it. In this study, SrZrO 3 doped with two rare earth oxides, ytterbia and gadolinia, is deposited by solution precursor plasma spraying and the layers obtained are evaluated before and after heat treatment. The coatings are characterized by two phases, SrZrO 3 and t-ZrO 2 , with interpass boundary structure, nano and microscale porosity, and through-thickness vertical cracks. XRD analysis after heat treatment at 1400 °C for 360 h shows that the two phases are very stable due to the doping of rare-earth elements, which is also shown to reduce thermal conductivity in the as-sprayed deposits by nearly 35%.

This study assesses the effect of yttrium additions on plasma sprayed MoS 2 /Ni-SiC-Y coatings produced from particle-reinforced composite powders. It is shown that the microstructure of the self-lubricating coatings improves with the addition of yttrium, resulting in increased hardness and cohesive strength. The tribological properties of the coatings were also studied, showing that the ideal amount of yttrium is 12 wt% based on wear loss measurements and that the fractal dimension of sliding wear debris depends on the friction load as well as the mass fraction of yttrium.

This study assesses the effect of acid corrosion on the luminescence of YAG:Ce coatings. The feedstock powder is prepared by high-temperature solid phase synthesis and the coatings are deposited by air plasma spraying. Microstructure and phase composition are characterized and the effect of acid immersion duration on luminescent intensity is measured. It is found that the luminescent properties of YAG:Ce 3+ coatings have a tendency to fluctuate with immersion time, which appears to be related to phase composition.

In this study, metal oxide films were synthesized from an EDTA·Er·H complex by flame spraying. The erbium oxide (Er 2 O 3 ) layers were deposited on stainless steel using N 2 , air, or O 2 as the carrier gas and a H 2 -O 2 mixture as the combustion gas. Test results indicate that the carrier gas has a significant effect on film thickness and porosity and that O 2 is the ideal carrier gas for producing dense metal oxide films.

This study investigates the phase stability and thermophysical properties of Y 2 O 3 and Yb 2 O 3 co-doped SrHfO 3 (SHYY) powder and bulk material along with the phase stability and microstructure evolution of as-sprayed SHYY coatings during annealing. The powder was synthesized by a solid-state reaction at 1450 °C, showing good phase stability up to 1400 °C. Dilatometry measurements revealed no abnormal changes in the coefficient of thermal expansion over a temperature range of 200-1300 °C. The thermal conductivity of the bulk material was found to be 16% lower than that of SrHfO 3 . Free-standing SHYY coatings deposited by air plasma spraying were also tested. The coatings consisted of SHYY and a minor amount of secondary phase Yb 2 O 3 and exhibited good phase stability during heat treatment at 1400 °C for 288 h. Coating samples examined after 216 h still exhibited a columnar microstructure.

Gadolinium zirconate (Gd 2 Zr 2 O 7 , GZ) as one of the promising thermal barrier coating materials for high-temperature application in gas turbine was toughened by nanostructured 3mol% yttria partially-stabilized zirconia (3YSZ) incorporation. The fracture toughness of the composite of 90mol%GZ-10mol% 3YSZ (GZ-YSZ) was increased by about 60% relative to the monolithic GZ. Both the GZ and GZ-YSZ composite coatings were deposited by atmospheric plasma spraying on Ni-base superalloys and then thermal-shock tested under the same conditions. The thermal-shock resistance of GZ-YSZ composite coating was improved significantly, which is believed to be mainly attributed to the enhancement of fracture toughness by the addition of nanostructured 3YSZ. In addition, the failure mechanisms of the thermal-shock tested GZ and GZ-YSZ composite coatings were also discussed.

This study investigates the feasibility of manufacturing lanthanum silicate coatings for solid oxide fuel cells by atmospheric plasma spraying. The coatings produced are cohesive, relatively dense, and contain no secondary phases. Test results show that the starting composition of the powder is maintained after spraying and that particle velocity depends primarily on the plasma gas mixture. Due to the relatively high melting temperature of the particles, dense apatite coatings with few microstructural defects are obtained.

Suspension plasma spraying (SPS) offers the manufacture of unique microstructures which are not possible with conventional powder feedstocks. Due to the considerably smaller size of the droplets and also the further fragmentation of these in the plasma jet, the attainable microstructural features like splat and pore sizes can be downsized to the nanometer range. Our present understanding of the SPS deposition process including injection, suspension plasma plume interaction, and deposition is outlined in this report. The conclusions drawn are based on microstructure analysis in combination with enthalpy probe and particle temperature and velocity and measurements. Measurements with a water-cooled stagnation probe provide valuable information on the interaction of the carrier fluid with the plasma plume. The examples presented include segmented thermal barrier coatings for turbine components, LSM cathode deposits for SOFCs, and TiO 2 layers for photovoltaic Gratzel cells.

Cored wires and high velocity arc spraying technique (HVAS) were applied to produce Zn-Al-Mg and Zn-Al-Mg-Re alloy coatings on low carbon steel substrates. And the effects of rare-earth metal on microstructure and corrosion resistance of the Zn-Al-Mg coating were investigated. The microstructures and mechanical properties were studied by SEM, EDS and XRD. The coatings show a typical aspect of layered thermal sprayed material structure. SEM results revealed that the addition of small amount of REM to the cored wires would result in a fine grained structure in the coating layer together with a dense microstructure, which is the reason for the adhesion strength enhancement and the porosity reducing of the coating. And the electrochemical corrosion mechanisms of the coatings were discussed. Chemical analysis of the coating indicated the composition to be Zn-16.5Al-5.9Mg-4.6O-RE (wt%). The phases of the coatings are Zn, Al 5 Mg 11 Zn 4 , MgZn 2 and Al 3 Mg 2 mainly, together with oxide ZnO, ZnAl 2 O 4 , and MgAl 2 O 4 . The electrochemical corrosion behaviors of Zn-Al-Mg-RE coating were investigated in 5%NaCl solution comparing with Zn-Al-Mg coating. Electrochemical measurements in the forms of potential-time and potentiodynamic polarization tests showed that such two coatings behaved excellent electrochemical corrosion resistance in salt solution, and the Zn-Al-Mg-RE coating was much more stable. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results revealed that small amount of rare-earth metal can not promote to form the passive film but it could enhance the surface property of the coating extraordinarily, which will has a great effect on the corrosion behaviors of the coating. Keywords: Zn-Al-Mg-RE coating; high velocity arc spraying; cored wires; potentiodynamic polarization; electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

The advantage of cored wires, a new type of material in thermal spraying, is that it is easy to control their composition and convenient to develop new materials. This research is aimed at developing the Fe-Cr-Ni austenitic stainless steel corrosion-resistance thermal-sprayed cored wires with rare earth elements added. The experiments are conducted with arc spraying. The anodic polarization curves of the sprayed coatings of the developed wires and of the 1Cr18Ni9 solid wire are drawn by using MODEL 351 corrosion measuring system in the 0.5mol/L sulfuric and 3.5wt.% sodium chloride solution at a temperature of 20° C . For the sake of comparison, the substrate and the 18-8 wrought stainless steel are also measured. Results to date indicate good usability of thermal sprayed coatings in all the developed wires. Owing to added rare earth elements, the corrosion-resistance of coatings increases in the 0.5mol/L sulfuric solution. The wires with RE-3 added have exhibited good corrosion-resistance. Deterioration of the corrosion-resistance in the 3.5wt.% sodium chloride solution is caused by generation of crevices and inclusions between the deposited particles.

Ceria (CeO2) based electrolytes have been considered for use in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) for more than 20 years. There are however some limitations to this usage that this study has tried to address, indeed the study objective has been that of synthesizing and thermal spraying thin layers (50 - 100 µm) of doped CeO2 by the technique of suspension plasma spraying, using radio frequency (RF) plasma technology. Various dopant combinations and concentrations have been selected for this work in order to increase the useful partial oxygen pressure range for satisfactory ionic conductivity development, thereby increasing the anionic conductivity and preventing CeO2 reduction in fuel cell service. Ceria possesses the fluorite crystal structure at low temperatures but does not have enough oxygen vacancies to be a good ionic conductor. In ceria the cerium have 4+ oxidation state within the fluorite structure, and by substituting a certain amount of Ce4+ ions by trivalent dopant ions, oxygen vacancies are induced into the structure. Recent studies have demonstrated that at low temperatures doped ceria seems to be a better electrolyte than doped zirconia. Also, it seems that dopants with ionic radii close to Ce4+ ions give rise to better ionic conductivities. The doped ceria conductivity increases with the dopant concentration because more oxygen vacancies are created, but at higher concentrations vacancy ordering occurs which results in decreased ionic conductivity.

The development of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) for diesel engines has been driven by the potential improvements in engine power and fuel efficiency that TBCs represent. TBCs have been employed for many years to reduce corrosion of valves and pistons because of their high temperature durability and thermal insulative properties. There are research programs to improve TBCs wear resistance to allow for its use in tribologically intensive areas of the engine. This paper will present results from tribological tests of ceria stabilized zirconia (CeSZ). The CeSZ was applied by atmospheric plasma spray process. Various mechanical and thermal properties were measured including wear, coefficient of thermal expansion, thermal conductivity, and microhardness. The results show the potential use of CeSZ in wear sensitive applications in diesel applications. Keywords: Thermal Barrier Coating, Diesel Engine, Wear, Thermal Conductivity, and Thermal Expansion

Perovskite-type LaMnO 3 powders and coatings have been prepared by a novel technique, the reactive suspension plasma spraying (SPS) using an inductively coupled plasma of about 40 kW plate power and an oxygen plasma sheath gas. Suitable precursor mixtures were found on the basis of solid state reactions, solubility and the phases obtained during the spray process. Best results were achieved by spraying a suspension of fine MnO 2 powder in a saturated ethanol solution of LaCl 3 with a 1:1 molar ratio of La and Mn. Low reactor pressure was helpful in order to diminish the amount of corrosive chlorine compounds in the reactor. As-sprayed coatings and collected powders showed perovskite contents of 70-90%. After a post-treatment with an 80% oxygen plasma an almost pure LaMnO 3 deposit was achieved in the center of the incident plasma jet.