ZrO 2 -Y 2 O 3 (YSZ) thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) were manufactured via conventional Air Plasma Spray (APS), Suspension Plasma Spray (SPS) and an additional technology hereby termed Finely-dispersed-particle Air Plasma Spray (FAPS). The FAPS processing employs the exact same classification of finely dispersed particles as used in SPS; however, whereas SPS uses a liquid medium, in the case of FAPS the particles are fed conventionally via a carrier gas into the plasma spray torch by using a newly developed powder feeder for fine (suspension-like) particles (NRC patented technology). These finely dispersed YSZ particles consist of irregularly shaped (fluffy-like) agglomerates made from individual nano-sized particles. The conventional APS YSZ TBC was sprayed via a Metco 3MB torch, whereas, both SPS and FAPS YSZ TBCs were sprayed using the Mettech Axial III torch (using the same set of spray parameters). Both SPS and FAPS YSZ TBCs exhibited porous and vertically-cracked microstructures. The conventional APS YSZ TBC microstructure exhibited the traditional lamellar morphology. Elastic modulus, hardness and thermal conductivity values were evaluated for all YSZ TBCs. Microstructures and phase analysis were investigated via SEM and XRD.

In this paper, plasma sprayed thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) with and without bond coat are stressed to various stress levels under four point bending with in situ acoustic emission (AE) to monitor any cracking activities. Micro- and macro-cracks occurring during the tests are investigated to better understand the failure mechanisms of TBCs. The results show that limited AE activities were detected in the first four stress-relief cycles, while plastic deformation and the greatest AE activity were observed when the applied load exceeded the yield point. In addition, they show that a TBC system that contained an adhesive layer had less AE activity (cracking events) than the TBC without an adhesive layer. In addition, the samples tested at a main speed of 5 micrometer/s resulted in a higher AE activity than the samples tested at 10 micrometer/s. With increasing plastic deformation, macro cracks and surface cracks also occurred. Paper includes a German-language abstract.