Developments in Processing of Ceramic Top Coats of EB-PVD Thermal Barrier Coatings

Partially Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (PYSZ) based Thermal Barrier Coatings (TBC) manufactured by EB-PVD process are a crucial part of a system, which protects the turbine blades situated at the high pressure sector of aero engines and stationary gas turbines under severe service conditions. These materials show a high strain tolerance relying on their unique coating morphology, which is represented by weakly bonded columns. The porosity present in ceramic top coats affects the thermal conductivity by reducing the cross sectional area through which the heat flows. The increase in thermal conductivity after heat-treatment relates to the alteration of the shape of the pores rather than the reduction of their surface-area at the cross section. The studies carried out by the authors demonstrate that the variation of the parameters during the EB-PVD processing of PYSZ based top-coats alters the columnar morphology of the coatings. Consequently, these morphological changes affect primarily the thermal conductivity and eventually the Young’ Modulus which are the key physical properties of this material group. New ceramic compositions covering zirconia coatings stabilized with alternative oxides, pyrochlores and hexaluminates are addressed. Failures occurring in ceramic top coats mark the lifetime of TBC system and therefore, it is necessary that their performance should go beyond that of the-state-of-the-art materials. This context summarizes the research and developments devoted to future generation ceramic top coats of EB-PVD TBCs.