A modified single edge V-notched beam method for evaluating surface fracture toughness of thermal barrier coatings

The surface fracture toughness is an important mechanical parameter for studying the failure behavior of air plasma sprayed(APS)thermal barrier coatings(TBCs).As APS TBCs are typical multilayer porous ceramic materials,the direct applications of the traditional single edge notched beam(SENB)method that ignores those typical structural characters may cause errors.To measure the surface fracture toughness more accurately,the effects of multilayer and porous characters on the fracture toughness of APS TBCs should be considered.In this paper,a modified single edge V-notched beam(MSEVNB)method with typical structural characters is developed.According to the finite element analysis(FEA),the geometry factor of the multilayer structure is recalculated.Owing to the narrower V-notches,a more accurate critical fracture stress is obtained.Based on the Griffith energy balance,the reduction of the crack surface caused by micro-defects is corrected.The MSEVNB method can measure the surface fracture toughness more accurately than the SENB method.

Thermal Analysis of Turbine Blades with Thermal Barrier Coatings Using Virtual Wall Thickness Method

Avirtual wall thicknessmethod is developed to simulate the temperature field of turbine bladeswith thermal barrier coatings(TBCs),to simplify the modeling process and improve the calculation efficiency.The results show that the virtualwall thickness method can improve themesh quality by 20%,reduce the number ofmeshes by 76.7%and save the calculation time by 35.5%,compared with the traditional real wall thickness method.The average calculation error of the two methods is between 0.21%and 0.93%.Furthermore,the temperature at the blade leading edge is the highest and the average temperature of the blade pressure surface is higher than that of the suction surface under a certain service condition.The blade surface temperature presents a high temperature at both ends and a low temperature in themiddle height when the temperature of incoming gas is uniformand constant.The thermal insulation effect of TBCs is the worst near the air film hole,and the best at the blade leading edge.According to the calculated temperature field of the substrate-coating system,the highest thermal insulation temperature of the TC layer is 172.01 K,and the thermal insulation proportions of TC,TGO and BC are 93.55%,1.54%and 4.91%,respectively.

Study on the Attack of Molten Silicates on Plasma-Sprayed Thermal Barrier Coatings

Thermal barrier coating (TBC) revolutionized the industry by allowing higher operating temperatures for equipment, such as gas turbines in the aeronautical industry. However, at high temperatures, the TBC is exposed to the attack of molten silicates, known as CMAS (Calcium-Magnesium-Alumino-Silicate), which are particles from the environment that infiltrate the TBC, causing delamination. In this study, samples coated with TBC by thermal spray and covered with CMAS were evaluated at temperatures of 1200˚C and 1250˚C. For each temperature, exposure times of 1 h and 5 h were used. Samples with longer exposure time had a considerable volume increase. The main contribution of this work was to demonstrate the non-wettability of the CMAS, even in the 5-h heat treatments, which prevented its infiltration in the deeper regions. The conditions to guarantee the formation of the silicate and its consequent wettability are also discussed.

Solid-gas interface thermal conductance for the thermal barrier coating with surface roughness:The confinement effect

The yttria-stabilized zirconia(YSZ)is a famous thermal barrier coating material to protect hot-end components of an engine.As a characteristic feature of the YSZ,the surface roughness shall play an important role in the interface thermal conductance between the YSZ and gas,considering that the gas is typically at an extremely high temperature.We investigate the effect of the surface roughness on the thermal conductance of the YSZ-gas interface with surface roughness described by nanoscale pores on the surface of the YSZ.We reveal two competitive mechanisms related to the microstructure of the pore,i.e.,the actual contact area effect and the confinement effect.The increase of the pore depth will enlarge the actual contact area between the YSZ and gas,leading to enhancement of the solid-gas interface thermal conductance.In contrast to the positive actual contact area effect,the geometry-induced confinement effect greatly reduces the interface thermal conductance.These findings shall offer some fundamental understandings for the microscopic mechanisms of the YSZ-gas interface thermal conductance.

Premature failure induced by non-equilibrium grain-boundary tantalum segregation in air-plasma sprayed ZrO_(2)-YO_(1.5)-TaO_(2.5)thermal barrier coatings

ZrO_(2)-YO_(1.5)-TaO_(2.5)(ZYTO)is a promising top-coat material for thermal barrier coatings(TBCs).The bulk properties of ZYTO have been reported by several studies,but its performances as TBCs are less-well understood.In this work,ZYTO TBCs were prepared by air plasma spraying(APS)and their thermal cycling performances were investigated at 1150℃.Despite of the good bulk properties,APS ZYTO TBCs present an extremely short thermal fatigue life.This is attributed to the non-equilibrium grain-boundary segregation of TaO_(2.5) induced by limited solubility and rapid quenching during APS process,resulting in a tetragonal(t)to cubic(c)and metastable-tetragonal(tm)phase transformation in ZYTO TBCs.The volume shrinkage(~0.74vol%)of phase transformation leads to many cracks at the c/tm phase boundaries after deposition.On the other hand,the formation of cubic phase with massive grain-boundary Ta segregation induces a large intergranular embrittlement and a weak bonding strength(~5.3 MPa),resulting in the premature failure of the ZYTO TBCs.

Characterization of Failure Mechanisms of Duplex and Graded Thermal Barrier Coatings Exposed to Thermal Shock Test

The beginning of failure of a (ZrO2-7%Y2O3)/(Ni-22%Co-17%Cr-12.5%Al-0.6%Y) duplex andgraded coating systems on lnconel 617 and IN738LC in burner rig tests has been characterized.The test conditions are 40 s heating up to 75O℃ substrate temperature followed by 80 s aircooling. Failure is considered at the appearance of the first bright spot during heating period.Stresses due to thermal expansion mismatch strains on cooling are the probable cause of life-limiting in this conditions of testing.

Coherent gradient sensing method for measuring thermal stress field of thermal barrier coating structures

Coherent gradient sensing(CGS)method can be used to measure the slope of a reflective surface,and has the merits of full-field,non-contact,and real-time measurement.In this study,the thermal stress field of thermal barrier coating(TBC)structures is measured by CGS method.Two kinds of powders were sprayed onto Ni-based alloy using a plasma spraying method to obtain two groups of film–substrate specimens.The specimens were then heated with an oxy-acetylene flame.The resulting thermal mismatch between the film and substrate led to out-of-plane deformation of the specimen.The deformation was measured by the reflective CGS method and the thermal stress field of the structure was obtained through calibration with the help of finite element analysis.Both the experiment and numerical results showed that the thermal stress field of TBC structures can be successfully measured by CGS method.

Review of Numerical Simulation of TGO Growth in Thermal Barrier Coatings

Thermally grown oxide(TGO)is a critical factor for the service life of thermal barrier coatings(TBC).Numerical simulations of the growth process of TGO have become an effective means of comprehensively understanding the progressive damage of the TBC system.At present,technologies of numerical simulation to TGO growth include two categories:coupled chemical-mechanical methods and mechanical equivalent methods.The former is based on the diffusion analysis of oxidizing elements,which can describe the influence of bond coat(BC)consumption and phase transformation in the growth process of TGO on the mechanical behavior of each layer of TBC,and has high accuracy for the thickness evolution of TGO,but they cannot describe the lateral growth of TGO and the rumpling phenomenon induced.The latter focuses on describing the final stress and strain state after the growth of a specific TGO rather than the complete growth processes of TGO.Based on the measured TGO thickness growth curve,simulations of thickening and lateral growth can be achieved by directly applying anisotropic volumetric strain to oxidized elements and switching elements properties from the BC to the TGO.

Comparative Study on Different Methods for Prediction of Thermal Insulation Performance of Thermal Barrier Coating Used on Turbine Blades

As turbine inlet temperature gets higher and higher,thermal barrier coating(TBC) is more and more widely used in turbine blades.For turbine blades with TBC,it is of great significance to evaluate the temperature distribution of its substrate metal quickly and accurately,especially during the design stage.With different degrees of simplification such as whether to consider the change of the geometric size of the fluid domain by TBC and whether to consider the planar heat conduction in TBC,three different methods used in conjugate heat transfer(CHT) simulation to model the TBC of the turbine blades have been developed and widely used by researchers.However,little research has been conducted to investigate the influence of the three methods on the temperature distribution of turbine blade.To fill this gap,three geometric models were designed.They are a solid conduction model with a substrate metal layer and a TBC layer,a transonic turbine vane with internal cooling and TBC,and a plate cylindrical film hole cooling model with TBC.Different methods were used in these geometric models and their differences were carefully analyzed and discussed.The result shows that for the conduction model used in this paper,with the same TBC surface temperature distribution,the difference between the three methods is very small and can be ignored.For a transonic turbine vane with internal cooling,regarding the local maximum temperature of the substrate-TBC interface,the largest difference between the method in which TBC is considered as a thermal resistance or a virtual layer of cells and the method in which three-dimensional heat conduction equation of TBC is solved occurs at the trailing edge.The difference near the leading edge is below 2K.When employed to the film cooling model,the difference of the laterally averaged temperature of the substrate-TBC interface can be 8 K which is mainly due to the change of the length to diameter ratio of the film cooling hole by TBC.If the substrate thickness is reduced by the thickness of TBC when three-dimensional heat conduction equation of TBC is solved,the temperature difference between the three methods will be quite limited.

Improvement strategy on thermophysical properties of A_(2)B_(2)O_(7)-type rare earth zirconates for thermal barrier coatings applications:A review

The A_(2)B_(2)O_(7)-type rare earth zirconate compounds have been considered as promising candidates for thermal barrier coating(TBC) materials because of their low sintering rate,improved phase stability,and reduced thermal conductivity in contrast with the currently used yttria-partially stabilized zirconia (YSZ) in high operating temperature environments.This review summarizes the recent progress on rare earth zirconates for TBCs that insulate high-temperature gas from hot-section components in gas turbines.Based on the first principles,molecular dynamics,and new data-driven calculation approaches,doping and high-entropy strategies have now been adopted in advanced TBC materials design.In this paper,the solid-state heat transfer mechanism of TBCs is explained from two aspects,including heat conduction over the full operating temperature range and thermal radiation at medium and high temperature.This paper also provides new insights into design considerations of adaptive TBC materials,and the challenges and potential breakthroughs are further highlighted for extreme environmental applications.Strategies for improving thermophysical performance are proposed in two approaches:defect engineering and material compositing.

High-entropy(La_(0.2)Nd_(0.2)Sm_(0.2)Gd_(0.2)Yb_(0.2))_(2)(Zr_(0.75)Ce_(0.25))_(2)O_(7)thermal barrier coating material with significantly enhanced fracture toughness

Poor fracture toughness leads to premature failure of La_(2)(Zr_(0.75)Ce_(0.25))_(2)O_(7)(LCZ)ther-mal barrier coatings in an elevated temperature service environment.A novel coating material,namely(La_(0.2)Nd_(0.2)Sm_(0.2)Gd_(0.2)Yb_(0.2))_(2)(Zr_(0.75)Ce_(0.25))_(2)O_(7)(LNSGY)based on the high-entropy con-cept,was successfully fabricated by solid-state sintering.The microstructure of LCZ and LNSGY was investigated by X-Ray Diffraction(XRD),Raman Spectrometer(RS),Transmission Electronic Microscopy(TEM)and Scanning Electron Microscopy(SEM).The fracture toughness of the LCZ and LNSGY ceramics was evaluated.The LNSGY has excellent high-temperature phase stability,and the grain size of LNSGY ceramic is smaller than that of LCZ ceramic at an elevated temper-ature due to the sluggish diffusion effect.Compared with LCZ(fracture toughness is(1.4±0.1)MPa·m^(1/2)),the fracture toughness of LNSGY is significantly enhanced(fracture toughness is(2.0±0.3)MPa·m^(1/2)).Therefore,the LNSGY can be a promising advanced thermal barrier coat-ing material in the future.

Tailoring sintering-resistant thermal barrier coatings by considering critical healing width of two-dimensional interlamellar pores

Large degradation in thermal insulation and strain tolerance is a main headache and a primary cause of the failure for plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings(TBCs)during service.One mechanism behind such degradation is the healing of interlamellar pores formed by multiple connections between edges of a pore,which significantly speeds up healing during thermal exposure.The objective of this study is to obtain sintering-resistant TBCs by tailoring the width of interlamellar pores to avoid multiple connections.Firstly,the mechanism responsible for the multiple connections was revealed.The splat surfaces before and after thermal treatments were characterized via an atomic force microscope(AFM).The roughening of the pore surface occurs during thermal exposure,along with the grain growth inside the splats.Consequently,the local surface height increases,which causes multiple connections and healing of the interlamellar pores.Secondly,critical widths of the interlamellar pores for avoiding the multiple connections during thermal exposure are established by correlating the extent of surface roughening with the growth of individual grains.The height increase of the splat surface and the growth of the grain size(D)were found to increase with the exposure temperature and duration.A relationship linking the height increase and the growth of the grain size induced by thermal exposure in plasma-sprayed ceramic splats was obtained.Finally,composite TBCs were prepared to form wide interlamellar pores in the coatings.Using this design,the increases in the thermal conductivity(λ)and the elastic modulus(E)can be prevented to a large extent.Thus,sintering-resistant TBCs that maintain high thermal insulation and strain tolerance,even afer long thermal exposure,can be created.

Composite ceramics thermal barrier coatings of yttria stabilized zirconia for aero-engines

Composite ceramics thermal barrier coatings(TBCs) are widely used in the aero-engines field due to their excellent thermal insulation, which improves the service life and durability of the inherent hot components. The most typical, successful and widely used TBCs material is yttria stabilized zirconia(YSZ). In this paper, fabrication methods, coating structures, materials, failure mechanism and major challenges of YSZ TBCs are introduced and reviewed. The research tendency is put forward as well. This review provides a good understanding of the YSZ TBCs and inspires researchers to discover versatile ideas to improve the TBCs systems.

Progress in ceramic materials and structure design toward advanced thermal barrier coatings

Thermal barrier coatings(TBCs)can effectively protect the alloy substrate of hot components in aeroengines or land-based gas turbines by the thermal insulation and corrosion/erosion resistance of the ceramic top coat.However,the continuous pursuit of a higher operating temperature leads to degradation,delamination,and premature failure of the top coat.Both new ceramic materials and new coating structures must be developed to meet the demand for future advanced TBC systems.In this paper,the latest progress of some new ceramic materials is first reviewed.Then,a comprehensive spalling mechanism of the ceramic top coat is summarized to understand the dependence of lifetime on various factors such as oxidation scale growth,ceramic sintering,erosion,and calcium–magnesium–aluminium–silicate(CMAS)molten salt corrosion.Finally,new structural design methods for high-performance TBCs are discussed from the perspectives of lamellar,columnar,and nanostructure inclusions.The latest developments of ceramic top coat will be presented in terms of material selection,structural design,and failure mechanism,and the comprehensive guidance will be provided for the development of next-generation advanced TBCs with higher temperature resistance,better thermal insulation,and longer lifetime.

Microstructure modification of Y2O3 stabilized ZrO2 thermal barrier coatings by laser glazing and the effects on the hot corrosion resistance

Y2O3 stabilized ZrO2(YSZ)thermal barrier coatings(TBCs)are prone to hot corrosion by molten salts.In this study,the microstructure of atmospheric plasma spraying YSZ TBCs is modified by laser glazing in order to improve the corrosion resistance.By optimizing the laser parameters,a^18μm smooth glazed layer with some vertical cracks was produced on the coating surfaces.The as-sprayed and modified coatings were both exposed to hot corrosion tests at 700 and 1000℃for 4 h in V2O5 molten salt,and the results revealed that the modified one had improved corrosion resistance.After hot corrosion,the glazed layer kept structural integrity,with little evidence of dissolution.However,the vertical cracks in the glazed layer acted as the paths for molten salt penetration,accelerating the corrosion of the non-modified coating.Further optimization of the glazed layer is needed in the future work.

Experimental and numerical investigation on the thermal and mechanical behaviours of thermal barrier coatings exposed to CMAS corrosion

Calcium-magnesium-alumino-silicate(CMAS)corrosion is a critical factor which causes the failure of thermal barrier coating(TBC).CMAS attack significantly alters the temperature and stress fields in TBC,resulting in their delamination or spallation.In this work,the evolution process of TBC prepared by suspension plasma spraying(SPS)under CMAS attack is investigated.The CMAS corrosion leads to the formation of the reaction layer and subsequent bending of TBC.Based on the observations,a corrosion model is proposed to describe the generation and evolution of the reaction layer and bending of TBC.Then,numerical simulations are performed to investigate the corrosion process of free-standing TBC and the complete TBC system under CMAS attack.The corrosion model constructs a bridge for connecting two numerical models.The results show that the CMAS corrosion has a significant influence on the stress field,such as the peak stress,whereas it has little influence on the steady-state temperature field.The peak of stress increases with holding time,which increases the risk of the rupture of TBC.The Mises stress increases nonlinearly along the thick direction of the reaction layer.Furthermore,in the traditional failure zone,such as the interface of the top coat and bond coat,the stress obviously changes during CMAS corrosion.

Effects of surface roughness on CMAS corrosion behavior for thermal barrier coating applications

Calcium-magnesium-alumina-silicate (CMAS) corrosion is an important cause for thermal barrier coating (TBC) failure,which has attracted increased attentions.In this study,some thermal barrier coating (TBC) materials including YSZ (yttria partially stabilized zirconia),GdPO_(4),and LaPO_(4) were prepared into bulks,and the effects of their surface roughness on wettability and spreading characteristics of molten CMAS were investigated.As-fabricated and polished bulks with different surface roughness were exposed to CMAS corrosion at 1250 ℃ for 1 and 4 h,following by macro and micro observations.Results revealed that compared with the as-fabricated bulks,molten CMAS on the polished samples had lower wettability and a smaller spreading area,mainly attributable to the reduced capillary force to drive the melt spreading.Meanwhile,GdPO_(4) and LaPO_(4) bulks exhibited lower CMAS wettability than YSZ bulk.It is thus considered that reducing the surface roughness is beneficial to CMAS corrosion resistance of TBCs.

Plasma spray-physical vapor deposition toward advanced thermal barrier coatings:a review

Plasma spray–physical vapor deposition(PS–PVD)is a unique technology that enables highly tailorable functional films and coatings with various rare metal elements to be processed.This technology bridges the gap between conventional thermal spray and vapor deposition and provides a variety of coating microstructures composed of vapor,liquid,and solid deposition units.The PS–PVD technique serves a broad range of applications in the fields of thermal barrier coatings(TBCs),environmental barrier coatings(EBCs),oxygen permeable films,and electrode films.It also represents the development direction of high-performance TBC/EBC preparation technologies.With the PS–PVD technique,the composition of the deposition unit determines the microstructure of the coating and its performance.When coating materials are injected into a nozzle and transported into the plasma jet,the deposition unit generated by a coating material is affected by the plasma jet characteristics.However,there is no direct in situ measurement method of material transfer and deposition processes in the PS–PVD plasma jet,because of the extreme conditions of PS–PVD such as a low operating pressure of*100 Pa,temperatures of thousands of degrees,and a thin and high-velocity jet.Despite the difficulties,the transport and transformation behaviors of the deposition units were also researched by optical emission spectroscopy,observation of the coating microstructure and other methods.This paper reviews the progress of PS–PVD technologies considering the preparation of advanced thermal barrier coatings from the perspective of the transport and transformation behaviors of the deposition units.The development prospects of new high-performance TBCs using the PS–PVD technique are also discussed.

High-entropy(Y_(0.2)Gd_(0.2)Dy_(0.2)Er_(0.2)Yb_(0.2))2Hf_(2)O_(7) ceramic: A promising thermal barrier coating material

Thermal barrier coating(TBC)materials perform an increasingly important role in the thermal or chemical protection of hot components in a gas turbine.In this study,a novel high entropy hafnate(Y_(0.2)Gd_(0.2)Dy_(0.2)Er_(0.2)Yb_(0.2))_(2)Hf_(2)O_(7) was synthesized by solution combustion method and investigated as a potential TBC layer.The as-synthesized(Y_(0.2)Gd_(0.2)Dy_(0.2)Er_(0.2)Yb_(0.2))_(2)Hf_(2)O_(7) possesses a pure single disordered fluorite phase with a highly homogeneous distribution of rare earth(RE)cations,exhibiting prominent phase stability and excellent chemical compatibility with Al_(2)O_(3) even at 1300°C.Moreover,(Y_(0.2)Gd_(0.2)Dy_(0.2)Er_(0.2)Yb_(0.2))_(2)Hf_(2)O_(7) demonstrates a more sluggish grain growth rate than Y_(2)Hf_(2)O_(7).The thermal conductivity of(Y_(0.2)Gd_(0.2)Dy_(0.2)Er_(0.2)Yb_(0.2))_(2)Hf_(2)O_(7)(0.73-0.93 W m^(-1)K^(-1))is smaller than those of components RE_(2)Hf_(2)O_(7) and many high entropy TBC materials.Beside,the calculated thermal expansion coefficient(TEC)of(Y_(0.2)Gd_(0.2)Dy_(0.2)Er_(0.2)Yb_(0.2))_(2)Hf_(2)O_(7)(10.68×10^(-6)/K,1100°C)is smaller than that of yttriastabilized zirconia(YSZ).Based on the results of this work,(Y_(0.2)Gd_(0.2)Dy_(0.2)Er_(0.2)Yb_(0.2))_(2)Hf_(2)O_(7) is suitable for the next generation TBC materials with outstanding properties.

A comparison between novel Gd_(2)Zr_(2)O_(7)and Gd_(2)Zr_(2)O_(7)/YSZ thermal barrier coatings fabricated by plasma spray-physical vapor deposition

Spherical Gd_(2)Zr_(2)O_(7)hollow powders with a mean size of 8.8μm were fabricated as feedstock for thermal barrier coatings(TBCs)by spray-drying.The single-ceramic-layer(SCL)Gd_(2)Zr_(2)O_(7)TBCs and double-ceramic-layer(DCL)Gd_(2)Zr_(2)O_(7)/YSZ TBCs with quasicolumnar structure were successfully fabricated by plasma spray-physical vapor deposition(PS-PVD).Tensile and water-quenching tests were applied to evaluate TBCs performances.The results show that adhesion strength of SCL Gd_(2)Zr_(2)O_(7)TBCs and DCL Gd_(2)Zr_(2)O_(7)/YSZ TBCs is36.5 MPa and 15.4 MPa,respectively.The delamination of SCL Gd_(2)Zr_(2)O_(7)TBCs and DCL Gd_(2)Zr_(2)O_(7)/YSZ TBCs in the tensile test takes place at the middle and bottom of Gd_(2)Zr_(2)O_(7)layer,respectively,due to relatively lower fracture toughness of Gd_(2)Zr_(2)O_(7)layer.After 40 cycles of water-quenching test,DCL Gd_(2)Zr_(2)O_(7)/YSZ TBC surface keeps relatively intact,while SCL Gd_(2)Zr_(2)O_(7)TBC surface shows 20%visible destroyed regions,which demonstrates that DCL Gd_(2)Zr_(2)O_(7)/YSZ TBCs have a better thermal shock resistance than SCL Gd_(2)Zr_(2)O_(7)TBCs.The cracks in the SCL system propagate near thermally grown oxide(TGO)due to thermal mismatch and TGO growing stress,while cracks in the DCL system propagate in the Gd_(2)Zr_(2)O_(7)layer due to its relatively lower fracture toughness.