Effect of functionally graded structure design on durability and thermal insulation capacity of plasma-sprayed thick thermal barrier coating

Abstract This paper aimed to design and optimize the structure of a thick thermal barrier coating by adding graded layers to achieve a balance between high thermal insulation capacity and durability. To this end, conventional TBC, conventional TTBC, and functionally graded TTBCs were deposited on the superalloy substrate by air plasma spraying. To determine the quality of the bond strength of the coatings, the bonding strength was measured. The durability of coatings was evaluated by isothermal oxidation and thermal shock tests. Then, at a temperature of 1000 °C, the thermal insulation capacity of the coatings was carried out. The microstructure of the coatings was characterized by a scanning electron microscope. The results showed that the thickness of the TGO layer formed on the bond coat in the conventional TBC and TTBC under the oxidation test at 1000 °C after 150 h was 2.79 and 2.11 μm, respectively, whereas, in the functionally graded TTBC samples, no continuous TGO layer was observed as a result of internal oxidation. The functionally graded TTBC presented higher durability than conventional TTBC due to improved bonding strength, thermal shock resistance, and the lack of a TGO layer at the bond/top coat interface. Also, the thermal insulation capacity of the functionally graded TTBC (with 1000 μm thickness of YSZ coating) was better than TTBC.