Investigation of thermo-mechanical properties of slurry based thermal barrier coatings under repeated thermal shock

Thermal Barrier Coatings have existed for over 40 years, and with in the last 15 years their use in industrial applications has dramatically increased. Thermal Barrier Coatings (TBCs) are currently used in gas turbines, diesel engines, throughout aerospace and nuclear power industries. The purpose of TBC is to reduce temperature and thermal stresses, and, as a result, increase the reliability and life of load-bearing components subjected to high temperature or temperature flux. However, TBCs often fail under thermal cyclic loading with reliability still being the major issue impeding their wide-spread applications. The focus of this work is on experimental investigations of zirconia/nickel graded TBC system, subject to thermal shock loading. The graded TBC systems were fabricated utilising a recently developed slurry spray manufacturing technique. This is a robust technique, and is able to cover large and curved surfaces at low cost, and provides many advantages in comparison with its alternatives. This paper describes the developed technique and presents selected results of thermomechanical and fracture testing of the TBCs including graded coatings fabricated using this new technique.