Heterogeneous layered structure in thermal barrier coatings by plasma spray-physical vapor deposition

The unique columnar structure endows thermal barrier coatings(TBCs)prepared by plasma spray-physical vapor deposition(PS-PVD)with high thermal insulation and long lifetime.However,the coating delamination failure resulting from an intra-column fracture(within a column rather than between columns)is a bottleneck in the solid dust particle impact environment for aero-engine.To clarify the intra-column fracture mechanism,a basic layer deposition model is developed to explore a heterogeneous weak-to-strong layered structure formed by a local transient in-situ deposit temperature.During the PS-PVD,an in-situ deposit surface is continuously updated due to constantly being covered by vapor condensation,showing a transient temperature,which means that the in-situ deposit surface temperature rises sharply in short period of 0.2 s of depositing a thin layer during a single pass.Meanwhile,the increasing temperature of the in-situ deposit surface results in an experimentally observed heterogeneous weak-to-strong structure,showing a continuous transition from a porous weak structure at the bottom region to a dense strong structure at the top region.This structure easily makes the intra-column fracture at the porous weak region.The results shed light on improving TBC lifetime by restraining the intra-column fracture.

Al-modification for PS-PVD 7YSZ TBCs to improve particle erosion and thermal cycle performances

Plasma spray-physical vapor deposition(PS-PVD)as a novel process was used to prepare feather-like columnar thermal barrier coatings(TBCs).This special microstructure shows good strain tolerance and non-line-of-sight(NLOS)deposition,giving great potential application in aero-engine.However,due to serious service environment of aero-engine,particle erosion performance is a weakness for PS-PVD 7YSZ TBCs.As a solution,an Al-modification approach was proposed in this investigation.Through in-situ reaction of Al and ZrO2,anα-Al2O3 overlay can be formed on the surface of 7YSZ columnar coating.The results demonstrate that this approach can improve particle erosion resistance since hardness improvement of Al-modified TBCs.Meanwhile,as another important performance of thermal cycle,it has a better optimization with 350-cycle water-quenching,compared with the as-sprayed TBCs.