skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Fracture toughness of plasma-sprayed thermal barrier ceramics: Influence of processing, microstructure, and thermal aging

Journal Article · · Journal of the American Ceramic Society
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/jace.13021· OSTI ID:1235812
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [3]
  1. Stony Brook Univ., Stony Brook, NY (United States)
  2. Stony Brook Univ., Stony Brook, NY (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Fracture toughness has become one of the dominant design parameters that dictates the selection of materials and their microstructure to obtain durable thermal barrier coatings (TBCs). Much progress has been made in characterizing the fracture toughness of relevant TBC compositions in bulk form, and it has become apparent that this property is significantly affected by process-induced microstructural defects. In this investigation, a systematic study of the influence of coating microstructure on the fracture toughness of atmospheric plasma sprayed (APS) TBCs has been carried out. Yttria partially stabilized zirconia (YSZ) coatings were fabricated under different spray process conditions inducing different levels of porosity and interfacial defects. Fracture toughness was measured on free standing coatings in as-processed and thermally aged conditions using the double torsion technique. Results indicate significant variance in fracture toughness among coatings with different microstructures including changes induced by thermal aging. Comparative studies were also conducted on an alternative TBC composition, Gd2Zr2O7 (GDZ), which as anticipated shows significantly lower fracture toughness compared to YSZ. Furthermore, the results from these studies not only point towards a need for process and microstructure optimization for enhanced TBC performance but also a framework for establishing performance metrics for promising new TBC compositions.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1235812
Journal Information:
Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol. 97, Issue 9; ISSN 0002-7820
Publisher:
American Ceramic SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 99 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (43)

Atmospheric plasma sprayed thick thermal barrier coatings with high segmentation crack density journal September 2004
Processing effects on porosity-property correlations in plasma sprayed yttria-stabilized zirconia coatings journal October 2003
Plasma-Sprayed Thermal Barrier Coatings: New Materials, Processing Issues, and Solutions journal February 2013
Comprehensive microstructural characterization and predictive property modeling of plasma-sprayed zirconia coatings journal May 2003
On the Vickers Indentation Fracture Toughness Test journal March 2007
Microstructure-Thermal Conductivity Relationships for Plasma-Sprayed Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia Coatings journal August 2008
Opportunities for TBCs in the ZrO2–YO1.5–TaO2.5 system journal March 2007
Effect of the Starting Microstructure on the Thermal Properties of As-Sprayed and Thermally Exposed Plasma-Sprayed YSZ Coatings journal March 2009
Microstructure-Property Correlations in Industrial Thermal Barrier Coatings journal July 2004
Thin Film Materials book July 2010
Materials Design for the Next Generation Thermal Barrier Coatings journal August 2003
Mechanical Properties/Database of Plasma-Sprayed ZrO2-8wt% Y2O3 Thermal Barrier Coatings journal October 2004
The Thermal Expansion, Elastic and Fracture Properties of Porous Cordierite at Elevated Temperatures journal March 2012
Mechanisms controlling the durability of thermal barrier coatings journal January 2001
Failure modes in plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings journal February 2003
On a ferroelastic mechanism governing the toughness of metastable tetragonal-prime ( t ′) yttria-stabilized zirconia journal February 2007
Failure mechanisms of thermal barrier coatings exposed to elevated temperatures journal September 1982
Relation of fracture resistance to fabric for granitic rocks journal January 1992
The effect of heat treatment on the stiffness of zirconia top coats in plasma-sprayed TBCs journal May 2001
Zirconates as New Materials for Thermal Barrier Coatings journal August 2000
Thermal barrier coating toughness: Measurement and identification of a bridging mechanism enabled by segmented microstructure journal March 2013
Mechanical properties of tape cast nickel-based anode materials for solid oxide fuel cells before and after reduction in hydrogen journal December 2004
Erosion of thermal barrier coatings journal January 2003
Elastic properties of β-eucryptite in the glassy and microcracked crystalline states journal September 2012
Controlled Introduction of Anelasticity in Plasma-Sprayed Ceramics: Anelastic Behavior in Ceramics journal April 2011
Effect of heat treatment on phase stability, microstructure, and thermal conductivity of plasma-sprayed YSZ journal January 2002
The mechanics of coating delamination in thermal gradients journal June 2007
Mechanisms of cracking and delamination within thick thermal barrier systems in aero-engines subject to calcium-magnesium-alumino-silicate (CMAS) penetration journal August 2008
Effect of Sintering on Mechanical Properties of Plasma-Sprayed Zirconia-Based Thermal Barrier Coatings journal October 2005
The double-torsion testing technique for determination of fracture toughness and slow crack growth behavior of materials: A review journal July 2006
Anisotropic elastic properties of thermal spray coatings determined via resonant ultrasound spectroscopy journal September 2010
Mechanisms of Toughening in Ceramics book January 1989
A method for evaluating the time-dependent failure characteristics of brittle materials ? and its application to polycrystalline alumina journal October 1972
Quenching, thermal and residual stress in plasma sprayed deposits: NiCrAlY and YSZ coatings journal January 1999
Fracture behavior under mixed-mode loading of ceramic plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings at ambient and elevated temperatures journal September 2005
Mechanical Characterization of Diesel Particulate Filter Substrates journal June 2008
Subcritical Crack Propagation in 3Y-TZP Ceramics: Static and Cyclic Fatigue journal November 1999
Effect of phase transformations on the fracture toughness of t′ yttria stabilized zirconia journal October 2012
R-curve evaluation and bridging stress determination in alumina by compliance analysis journal May 2003
Ferroelastic Domain Switching as a Toughening Mechanism in Tetragonal Zirconia journal October 1986
The Relationship Between Microstructure and Fracture Toughness for Fibrous Materials for Diesel Particulate Filters journal April 2010
The influence of oxides on the performance of advanced gas turbines journal January 2008
Thermal Barrier Coatings for Gas-Turbine Engine Applications journal April 2002

Cited By (12)

Process-Property Relationship for Air Plasma-Sprayed Gadolinium Zirconate Coatings journal November 2014
Fracture Toughness of Thermal Spray Ceramics: Measurement Techniques and Processing Dependence journal September 2018
Fracture Toughness of Cold Sprayed Pure Metals journal November 2019
Microstructures and Thermal Cycling Properties of Thermal Barrier Coatings Deposited by Hybrid Water-Stabilized Plasma Torch journal February 2020
A comprehensive sintering mechanism for TBCs-Part I: An overall evolution with two-stage kinetics journal March 2017
A comprehensive sintering mechanism for thermal barrier coatings-Part III: Substrate constraint effect on healing of 2D pores journal February 2018
A highly strain and damage‐tolerant thermal barrier coating fabricated by electro‐sprayed zirconia hollow spheres journal April 2018
Thermal cycling performances of multilayered yttria‐stabilized zirconia/gadolinium zirconate thermal barrier coatings journal October 2019
Low‐temperature stiffening of air plasma‐sprayed 7 wt% Y 2 O 3 ‐stabilized ZrO 2 journal October 2019
The Temperature Distribution in Plasma-Sprayed Thermal-Barrier Coatings During Crack Propagation and Coalescence journal September 2018
Modelling Thermal Conductivity of Porous Thermal Barrier Coatings journal February 2019
Crack-Growth Behavior in Thermal Barrier Coatings with Cyclic Thermal Exposure journal June 2019