High temperature fracture toughness and residual stress in thermal barrier coatings evaluated by an in-situ indentation method

High temperature fracture toughness and residual stress are important for the evaluation of TBCs. In this paper, an in-situ high temperature indentation method was originally developed to investigate the high temperature fracture toughness and residual stress in a typical TBC, nanostructured 8?wt% yttria partially stabilized zirconia (YSZ) coating. The cracks caused by in-situ high temperature indentation tests were observed, and high temperature fracture toughness and residual stress were experimentally measured. The fracture toughness was measured to be 1.25, 0.91 and 0.75?MPa*m^1/2 at 25, 800 and 1000?°C, respectively. The residual stress was measured to be ? 131.3, ? 55.5 and ? 45.5?MPa, correspondingly. Moreover, the residual stress and fracture toughness both decrease with increasing environmental temperature. It is also found that the fracture toughness without consideration of residual stress is significantly larger than the intrinsic fracture toughness, which may result from the compressive stress state.     

Sintering characteristics of plasma-sprayed TBCs: Experimental analysis and an overall modelling

In this study, sintering behaviour of plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings (PS-TBCs) was investigated experimentally and theoretically. Results show that the sintering kinetics of PS-TBCs is highly stage-sensitive. The sintering proceeds significantly faster at initial short thermal exposure (<20 h), while it slows down dramatically at following long thermal exposure. A detailed examination on microstructural evolution of the PS-TBCs was carried out to understand their sintering behaviour. Results show that, different from the conventional sintering theory, the healing of 2D pores was dominantly responsible for the stage-sensitive sintering kinetics during thermal exposure. In brief, the sintering characteristics of the PS-TBCs are highly structure specific. In addition, a structural model was developed based on the structural characteristics of the PS-TBCs; and the model predicts a well consistent sintering behaviour with experiments. Finally, an outlook towards TBCs with higher performance was put forward.     

Thermal cycling behavior of EB-PVD rare earth oxides co-doping ZrO2-based thermal barrier coatings

Novel ceramic topcoat of Gd₂O₃–Yb₂O₃–Y₂O₃ co-stabilized ZrO₂ (GYbYSZ) thermal barrier coatings were fabricated via EB-PVD technique. The phase structural stability, phase constituent, chemical composition, morphology and cyclic oxidation of the thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) were systematically studied. Based on the XRD results, the GYbYSZ ceramics has not undergone phase transformation upon long-term annealing at 1373 K and 1523 K. Although the chemical content of the GYbYSZ ceramic coat deviates from the stoichiometric value, the coating is mostly composed of cubic phase, which is accord with the XRD pattern of the original ingot. A pyramidal-like morphology appears in the microtexture of the column tips and the measured diameters of the pyramids are about 2.5~4 μm. After thermal cycling, the surface of the coating presents a multi-layer structure, which is followed by layer-by-layer spallation. The failure zone of the ceramic coats is possible to occur the interior of the thermally grown oxide (TGO) layer, or within the top ceramic coat at the interface of bond coat/TGO layers. The degradation of GYbYSZ TBCs is primarily attributed to the accumulation and relaxation of residual stress, propagation of vertical through microcracks, the growth rumpling of TGO layer, the ridges of grain boundary and the abnormal oxidation of bond coat.     

Microstructure evolution of Al-modified 7YSZ PS-PVD TBCs in thermal cycle

The PS-PVD method was used to prepare 7YSZ thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) and NiCrAlY bond coatings on a DZ40 M substrate. To prevent oxidation of the coating, magnetron sputtering was used to modify the surface of TBCs with an Al film. To explore the stability of TBCs during thermal cycling, water quenching was performed at 1100 °C, and ultralong air cooling for 16,000 cycles was performed. The results showed that before water quenching and air cooling, the top surface structure of the 7YSZ TBCs changed. After water quenching, the surface of the Al film was scoured and broken, the surface peeled off layer-by-layer, and cracks formed at the interface between the thermally grown oxide and NiCrAlY. During air cooling of the thermal cycle, the Al film reacted with O₂ in the air to form a dense Al₂O₃ top layer that coated the cauliflower-like 7YSZ surface and maintained the feather-like shape. At the same time, the TGO layer between 7YSZ and NiCrAlY grew and cracked. The two thermal cycles of water quenching and air cooling led to different failure mechanisms of TBCs. Water quenching failure was caused by layer-by-layer failure of the 7YSZ top coat, while air cooling failure occurred due to the internal cracking of the TGO layer at the 7YSZ/NiCrAlY interface and the failure of the TGO/NiCrAlY interface.     

Evolution of stress and morphology in thermal barrier coatings

Residual stress in the thermally grown oxide (TGO) in thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) was measured by photoluminescence piezospectroscopy (PLPS) and stress maps created to track local stress changes as a function of thermal cycling. The local stress images were observed to be correlated with morphological features on the metal surface that were purposely introduced during specimen preparation. Local stress relaxation and morphological evolution with thermal cycling were studied using the stress maps combined by post-mortem SEM examination. It was found that the morphology in the specimen having an initial polished surface was quite stable, while that in the specimen with a rough surface was unstable. The average residual stress in the specimen with the unstable morphology decreased with thermal cycling and it eventually failed along TGO/YSZ interface. The specimen with stable morphology maintained a high TGO stress throughout the thermal cycling process and failed along TGO/bond coat interface. The rough surface was also found to give rise to the formation of transition alumina (θ-Al₂O₃) in the TGO which was correlated with a reduced TGO stress.     

纳米氧化锆热障涂层组织结构和抗热冲击性能分析

采用大气等离子喷涂技术制备了纳米氧化锆热障涂层和常规热障涂层.利用FESEM和XRD对纳米氧化锆热障涂层的组织结构和物相组成进行分析.系统研究了两种热障涂层的抗热冲击性能.微观组织分析结果表明,纳米氧化锆热障涂层展现出独特的纳米—微米复合结构,包括柱状晶和未熔融或部分熔融纳米颗粒.非平衡四方相是涂层的主要物相.抗热冲击性能试验结果表明,纳米氧化锆热障涂层拥有更为优越的抗热冲击性能,这主要得益于其相对致密的结构以及微裂纹、纳米晶粒、小孔径孔隙的应力缓释作用.热应力失效是涂层失效的主要原因.     

基于随机介质理论的热障涂层随机孔隙模型构建

基于随机介质理论、采取统计学方法,将热障涂层(TBCs)中孔隙和裂纹引起的局部密度和弹性模量起伏用空间自相关函数及某些统计参数来描述,借助极值搜索法对连续随机介质模型进行改造,并针对涂层孔隙率及各向异性取向等进行模型参数优化,提出并建立了TBCs随机孔隙模型。将模型模拟结果与ZrO2涂层SEM观察结果进行对比表明,所建立的模型能够较好地描述热障涂层中的孔隙、裂纹形貌特征。本研究对于确定TBCs孔隙特征与涂层性能的理论关系以及涂层性能计算研究具有较大意义。     

Molten silicate interactions with plasma sprayed thermal barrier coatings: Role of materials and microstructure

Ingestion of siliceous particulate debris into both propulsion and energy turbines has introduced significant challenges in harnessing the benefits of enhanced operation efficiencies through the use of higher temperatures and thermal barrier coatings (TBCs). The so-called CMAS (for calcium-magnesium alumino-silicate) particles can melt in the gas path at temperatures greater than 1200C, where they will subsequently impact the coating surface and infiltrate through the carefully engineered porosity or cracks in a TBC. Ultimately, this CMAS attack causes premature spallation through its solidification and stiffening the ceramic during cooling. It has been noted in recent years, that TBCs based on yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) are completely non-resistant to CMAS attack due to their lack of reactivity with infiltrant liquid. New TBC ceramics such as Gadolinium Zirconate (GZO) show promise of CMAS resistance through rapid reaction-induced crystallization and solidification of the infiltrant, leading to its arrested infiltration. In both situations, the microstructure (porosity, micro and macro cracks) can be important differentiators in terms of the infiltration and subsequent failure mechanisms. This paper seeks to examine the interplay among microstructure, material, and CMAS attack in different scenarios. To do so, different types of YSZ & GZO single and multilayer coatings were fabricated using Air Plasma Spray (APS) and exposed to CMAS through isothermal and gradient mechanisms. In each of the cases, beyond their unique interactions with CMAS, it was observed the inherent microstructure and character of the porosity of the coating will have an additional role on the movement of the melt. For instance, vertical cracks can provide pathways for accelerated capillaric flow of the melt into both YSZ and GZO coatings. Based on these observations multilayer coatings have been proposed and realized toward potentially reducing complete coating failure and supporting multiple CMAS attack scenarios.     

铝合金上等离子喷涂NiCrAlCoY/ZrO2梯度热障层连接的研究

利用等离子喷涂法在发动机铝合金活塞上制得NiCrAlCoY与用质量分数为8％的Y2O3稳定的ZrO2梯度热障层。经热震实验、金相分析、SEM分析和TEM分析，结果表明该热障层具有良好的抗热冲击性和高温热稳定性，并且NiCrAlCoY与ZrO2间形成了化学键结合。这为今后解决TBCs可靠性的问题提出了新的思路。     

Thick Graded Nanostructured Zirconia-NiCoCrAlY Composite Coatings by Plasma Spraying

Thick Nanostructured PSZ-NiCoCrAlY graded TBCs were got byair plasma spraying. The results reveal the morphology and phase transformation of TBCs by means of SEM and XRD. The plasma spray process results in a characteristic layered structure consisting of lamellae, unmelted nano-particles and an inter-lamellar porosity. The test results of thermal shock show that the graded coatings have different failure behavior. The failure mode was the spallation of top coat due to thermal stress. It has been found that the lamella consists of nanoscale columnar grains parallel to the spraying direction.