Determination of the stress-dependent stiffness of plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings using depth-sensitive indentation

The elastic response of atmospheric plasma-sprayed coatings was investigated using Vickers and spherical indenter geometries. In both cases a strong dependency of the stiffness on the applied load (indentation depth) was observed. The stiffness of the coatings decreased with increasing load for a Vickers indenter, whereas it increased for a spherical indenter. This contrary behavior was related to the relative crack density in the deformed volume and to the stress dependence of the stiffness due to crack closure. The effect of annealing on the stiffness was quantified for both tip geometries. The heat treatment yielded additional information on the relationship between the indentation data and the microstructural defects. From the results it was concluded that the stiffness measured using a sharp indenter and small load reflected the elastic behavior of single spraying splats. With the relatively large spherical indenter, the average global stiffness of the thermal barrier coating was measured even at small loads. From the data obtained using the spherical indenter, a compressive stress–strain curve was suggested. Furthermore, values of the apparent crack density and yield strength were determined from the indentation tests.