A high-temperature displacement-sensitive indenter for studying mechanical properties of thermal barrier coatings

Electron beam physical-vapor-deposited Y₂O₃-stabilized ZrO₂ thermal barrier coating (TBC) samples were indented from room temperature to 900 °C using an instrumented high-temperature vacuum displacement-sensitive indenter. Hardness and elastic modulus were determined from the load–displacement curves recorded during indentation. Both the hardness and the elastic modulus of the TBCs were much lower than those of dense ceramics of a similar composition; this is attributed to the increased compliance that results from the porous columnar microstructure of the TBCs. In addition, the TBCs showed an unusual absence of elastic recovery at the residual indents compared to the dense ceramics.