Hafnium silicate formation during oxidation of a permeable silicon + HfO2 powder composite system

Abstract Silicon bond coats, applied to silicon carbide composites used in gas turbine engines as a part of an environmental barrier coating (EBC) system, arrest the transport of oxidizing species to the SiC composite by forming a SiO2 thermally grown oxide. Above 1200°C, a crystalline s-cristobalite SiO2 phase is formed that subsequently undergoes a large thermal contraction during its s→α-cristobalite transformation upon cooling, leading to oxide layer cracking and eventual EBC delamination. A model system of silicon particles in a highly porous HfO2 particle matrix is used to investigate the rate and mechanism by which s-cristobalite SiO2 is dynamically converted to hafnium orthosilicate (HfSiO4; Hafnon) when oxidizing silicon is in contact with m-HfO2. The study compares the net rate of SiO2 formation in the model silicon + HfO2 system with that on only silicon particles, and finds that the thickness of the SiO2 layer that forms during high temperature (1250–1316°C) oxidation can be greatly reduced by the hafnon formation reaction. The study also investigates the mechanism by which hafnon forms, and reports a SiO2 rumpling process when its outward (radial) growth is locally constrained by HfO2 particles. Since hafnon is phase stable over the temperature range of EBC interest, and has a thermal expansion coefficient similar to silicon, the dynamic conversion of SiO2 to hafnon provides a promising approach for controlling the delamination of EBC systems that use silicon bond coats.