The behavior of high-purity, low-density air plasma sprayed thermal barrier coatings

Research on the behavior of high-purity, low-density (85%) air plasma sprayed (APS) thermal barrier coatings (TBC) with NiCoCrAlY bond coats deposited by argon-shrouded plasma spraying is described. The microstructure of the APS topcoats is one variable in this study intended to maximize the coating thicknesses that can be applied without spallation and to minimize the thermal conduction through the YSZ layer. The specimens were evaluated using cyclic oxidation tests and important properties of the TBCs, such as resistance to sintering and phase transformation, were determined.The high purity resulted in top coats which are highly resistant to sintering and transformation from the metastable tetragonal phase to the equilibrium mixture of monoclinic and cubic phases. The porous topcoat microstructure also resulted in significant durability during thermal cycling. The actual failure mechanisms of the APS coatings were found to depend on topcoat thickness, CTE of the superalloy substrate and the nature of the thermal exposure.