Lifetime determining factors during thermal cycling of zirconia based thermal barrier coatings

Plasma sprayed yttria stabilised zirconia (YSZ) coatings were investigated to assess the factors influencing their durability during thermal cycling. For any given powder, the best performance was found to be achieved at an optimum plasma arc current, all other spray parameters being held constant. The YSZ overlayer thickness was found to be an important lifetime determining factor. Use of a NiCoCrAlY bond coat instead of Ni–Cr led to a substantial improvement in coating lifetime, with the enhancement provided by NiCoCr AlY becoming more pronounced with increasing porosity level of the ceramic overlayer. A post-coating heat treatment was also found to be beneficial to coating longevity. The relative ranking of magnesium zirconate and YSZ coatings was found to depend upon the thermal cycle adopted during testing, which has important implications in designing accelerated tests to evaluate coating performance.