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Laser Thermal Gradient Testing and Fracture Mechanics Study of a Thermal Barrier Coating

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Abstract

It is critical for thermal barrier coating (TBC) development that a testing method be used to understand the potential and limitation of a coating’s durability and integrity under gas turbine engine operating conditions. To this end, a TBC-coated button is tested using a laser high-heat flux facility. The ceramic coating is ZrO2-8 wt.% Y2O3 applied via the air plasma spraying process on top of a NiCoCrAlY bond coating and an Inconel alloy 617 substrate button of 25.4 mm diameter. The coated button is subject to precisely controlled laser heating on the top side (1150 °C) and a temperature gradient of 63.9 °C/mm through the button overall thickness. The coated button lasts 160.9 h or 570 cycles of laser heating. The void fraction change before and after the test, the thermal conductivity change during the laser test and the failure assessment are presented. After the test, significant horizontal cracks exist in the top coating close to the thermally grown oxide (TGO) layer and near the button center. Based on the cracks and the TGO layer geometry, the stress intensity factor and strain energy release rate are computed. The combined experimental and computational approach can lead to a TBC lifetime model.

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Abbreviations

APS:

Air plasma spraying

BC:

Bond coating

C p :

Specific heat

E :

Young’s modulus

FWHM:

Full-width at half-maximum

G :

Strain energy release rate

K :

Stress intensity factor

k n :

Normalized thermal conductivity

k :

Thermal conductivity

SEM:

Scanning electron microscope

SUB:

Substrate superalloy

TBC:

Thermal barrier coatings

TC:

Top coating

TGO:

Thermally grown oxides

T :

Temperature

T H :

Hot side or top side of button temperature

T L :

Cold side or bottom side of button substrate temperature

YSZ:

Yttria stabilized zirconia

α :

Coefficient of thermal expansion

ρ :

Density

v :

Poisson’s ratio

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the support of laser high-heat flux testing by Shanghai Electric Gas Turbine Co. Ltd. The support of the numerical study is provided by Florida Institute of Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical Engineering Program, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL, USA

    Yingsang Wu, Pei-feng Hsu, Yao Wang & Mary Helen McCay

  2. National Center for Hydrogen Research, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL, USA

    Mary Helen McCay, D. Edward Croy & David Moreno

  3. Gas Turbine Institute, Shanghai Electric Gas Turbine Co. Ltd., Shanghai, China

    Lei He, Chao Wang & Hongqi Zhang

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  1. Yingsang Wu
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Wu, Y., Hsu, Pf., Wang, Y. et al. Laser Thermal Gradient Testing and Fracture Mechanics Study of a Thermal Barrier Coating. J Therm Spray Tech 28, 1239–1251 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11666-019-00879-9

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