Metallographic techniques for evaluation of Thermal Barrier Coatings produced by Electron Beam Physical Vapor Deposition

Journal Article · Tue Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2008 · Materials Characterization

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchar.2007.07.010· OSTI ID:21140739

Kelly, Matthew ^[1]; Singh, Jogender ^[1]; Todd, Judith ^[2]; Copley, Steven; Wolfe, Douglas ^[1]

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1. Applied Research Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University, 115 MRI building, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
2. Engineering Sciences and Mechanics Department, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa, 16802 (United States)

Thermal Barrier Coatings (TBC) produced by Electron Beam Physical Vapor Deposition (EB-PVD) are primarily applied to critical hot section turbine components. EB-PVD TBC for turbine applications exhibit a complicated structure of porous ceramic columns separated by voids that offers mechanical compliance. Currently there are no standard evaluation methods for evaluating EB-PVD TBC structure quantitatively. This paper proposes a metallographic method for preparing samples and evaluating techniques to quantitatively measure structure. TBC samples were produced and evaluated with the proposed metallographic technique and digital image analysis for columnar grain size and relative intercolumnar porosity. Incorporation of the proposed evaluation technique will increase knowledge of the relation between processing parameters and material properties by incorporating a structural link. Application of this evaluation method will directly benefit areas of quality control, microstructural model development, and reduced development time for process scaling.

• OSTI ID: 21140739
• Journal Information: Materials Characterization, Vol. 59, Issue 7; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.matchar.2007.07.010; PII: S1044-5803(07)00256-2; Copyright (c) 2007 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1044-5803
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CERAMICS
COATINGS
ELECTRON BEAMS
GRAIN SIZE
IMAGE PROCESSING
PHYSICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION
POROSITY
POROUS MATERIALS
QUALITY CONTROL
THERMAL BARRIERS
VOIDS